'.  ;•-•'/'.!,  :    ••"  .   ""-':..-    ;       "          .          ,       ;    .  .     '-        ".  ''  .- 
.;"'1'"  ••    •  .  "' 


1111 


THE 


INDIAN  MISCELLANY; 


CONTAINING 


THE  AMERICAN  ABORIGINES; 

WITH 

DESCRIPTIONS  OF  THEIR  DOMESTIC  LIFE,  MANNERS,  CUSTOMS, 
TRAITS,  AMUSEMENTS  AND  EXPLOITS  ; 

TRAVELS  AND  ADVENTURES  IN  THE  INDIAN  COUNTRY; 

of  §0*det  Watfat* ;  Pi^i0»avy  lUtationtf,  eti . 


EDITED  BY  W:  W.  BEACH. 


ALBANY: 
J.  MUNSELL,  82  STATE  STREET. 

1877. 


ancro/t 


Library 


TO  THE  MEMORY 


SAMUEL  GARDNER  DRAKE, 
o 
o 

WHO  THROUGHOUT   A  LONG  AND  STUDIOUS    LIFE    DEVOTED   CONSTANT 

AND    UNWEARIED    EFFORT   TO    THE     RECOVERY    AND    PRE- 

SERVATION OF  WHATEVER   RELATED   TO   THE    HIS- 

TORY    OF     A    RACE    WHOSE     ANNALS   MUST 

ERELONG     CONSTITUTE      THEIR 

ONLY    MONUMENT, 

Volume  fs 


ADVERTISEMENT. 

The  purpose  of  this  publication  is  to  preserve,  in 
convenient  form,  interesting  fugitive  papers  concern- 
ing the  aborigines  of  America.  Reprinted  mainly  from 
reviews,  magazines,  newspapers,  pamphlets  and  other 
ephemera,  these  articles  are  reproduced  in  the  exact 
language  of  the  originals ;  excepting  an  occasional 
change  of  title,  the  omission  of  what  was  deemed  ir- 
relevant or  redundant,  and  in  the  several  instances 
where  authors  have  revised  or  extended  their  essays 
expressly  for  this  work. 


CONTENTS. 


HlSTOKICAL  AND  MYTHOLOGICAL  TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUINS  ;  WITH 
A  TRANSLATION  OF  THE  WALUM-OLUM,  OR  BARK  RECORD  OF  THE 
LENNI  LENAPE  —  BY  E.  G.  SQUIER ,  .  .  0 

A  RIDE  WITH  THE  APACHES  —  BY  HERBERT  C.  DORR 43 

THE  CAPTIVITY  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAST  —  BY  GEO.  W.  HILL,  M.D.      .  .    51 

THE  ESQUIMAUX  OF  LABRADOR  —  BY  A.  S.  PACKARD,  JR 65 

INDIAN  MEDICINE  —  BY  JOHN  MASON  BROWNE        .       .       .        .        .       .74 

NARRATIVE  OF  THE  LONG  WALK  —  BY  JOHN  WATSON,  FATHER  AND  SON  .       86 

THE  EARLY  JESUIT  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  NORTH  WESTERN  TERRITORY  — 
BY  W.  B.  O.  PEABODY  .  102 

COMPARATIVE  VOCABULARIES  OF  THE  SEMINOLE  AND  MAKASUKE  TONGUES  — 
BY  BUCKINGHAM  SMITH 120 

A  Sioux  VISION  —  THICK-HEADED- HORSE'S  DREAM  —  BY  JOHN  HALLAM  .  127 
JOSEPH  BRANT,  THAYENDANEGEA,  AND  HIS  POSTERITY — BY  WM.  C.  BRYANT  145 

INDIAN  MIGRATIONS  —  BY  LEWIS  H.  MORGAN 158 

A  PERILOUS  FOSSIL  HUNT  —  BY  WILLIAM  C.  WYCKOFF  ....  258 
INDIAN  AFFAIRS  AROUND  DETROIT  IN  1706  —  BY  COL.  CHARLES  WHITTLESEY  270 
THE  ABORIGINAL  INHABITANTS  OF  CONNECTICUT  —  BY  LUZERNE  RAY  .  280 
THE  INDIAN  RESERVATIONS  OF  CALIFORNIA  —  BY  J.  Ross  BROWNE  .  .  303 

THE  DOG  SACRIFICE  OF  THE  SENEGAS  —  BY  SAMUEL  CROWELL  .       .323 

THE  SPANISH  MISSION  COLONY  ON  THE  RAPPAHANNOCK  ;  THE  FIRST 
EUROPEAN  SETTLEMENT  IN  VIRGINIA  —  BY  JOHN  GILMARY  SHEA  .  833 


viii.  CONTENTS. 

ALASKAN  MUMMIES  —  BY  W.  H.  DALL  344 

DYEING,  SPINNING  AND  WEAVING,  BY  THE  CAMANCHES,  NAVAJOES  AND  OTHEK 
INDIANS  OF  NEW  MEXICO  —  BY  J.  HENRY  PETERS 352 

A  FORTNIGHT  AMONG  THE  CHIPPEWAS  OP  LAKE  SUPERIOR  —  BY  PROF.  J.  J. 
DUCATEL 361 

THE  JANE  Me  CREA  TRAGEDY  —  BY  WILLIAM  L.  STONE          .        .        .        .379 
A  VISIT  TO  THE  STANDING  ROCK  AGENCY  —  BY  DANIEL  LEASURE,  M.D.      .      387 

AMONG  THE  GUATUSOS  ;  A  NARRATIVE  OF  ADVENTURE  AND  DISCOVERY  IN 
CENTRAL  AMERICA  —  BY  O.  J.  PARKER  396 

THE  REV.  JOHN  ELIOT,  AND  HIS  INDIAN  CONVERTS  —  BY  REV.  MARTIN  MOORE  405 

INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES  AND  TERRITORIES  —  BY  ALBERT 
S.  GATSCHET 416 

CHASTISEMENT  OF  THE  YAMASEES  ;  AN  INCIDENT  OF  THE  EARLY  INDIAN  WARS 
IN  GEORGIA  . 449 

THE  LAST  OF  THE  PEQUODS, —  BY  BENSON  J.  LOSSING  ....      452 

THE  TRADITION  OF  AN  INDIAN  ATTACK  ON  HADLEY,  MASS.,  IN  1675  — BY 
GEORGE  SHELDON .461 


THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 


HISTORICAL  AND  MYTHOLOGICAL  TRADITIONS  OF 
THE  ALG  ONQ  UINS. 

WITH  A  TRANSLATION  OF  THE  WALUM-OLUM,  OK  BAEK  RECORD  OF  THE LENNI 

LENAPE.i 

[Read  before  the  New  York  Historical  Society  at  its  regular  meeting  in  June,  1848.] 

BY  E.  G.  SQUIER. 

THE  discovery  of  America,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  constitutes 
a  grand  era  in  the  history  of  the  world.  From  it  we  may  date 
the  rise  of  that  mental  energy  and  physical  enterprise,  which 
has  since  worked  such  wonderful  changes  in  the  condition  of  the 
human  race.  It  gave  a  new  and  powerful  impulse  to"  the  nations 
of  Europe,  then  slowly  rousing  from  the  lethargy  of  centuries. 
Love  of  adventure,  hope,  ambition,  avarice  —  the  most  powerful 
incentives  to  human  action  —  directed  the  attention  of  all  men  to 
America.  Thither  nocked  the  boldest  and  most  adventurous 
spirits  of  Europe  ;  and  half  a  century  of  startling  events  sufficed 
to  lift  the  veil  of  night  from  a  vast  continent,  unsurpassed  in  the 
extent  and  variety  of  its  productions,  abounding  in  treasures,  and 
teeming  with  a  strange  people,  divided  into  numberless  families, 
exhibiting  many  common  points  of  resemblance,  yet  differing 
widely  in  their  condition,  manners,  customs,  and  civil  and  social 
organizations. 

Along  the  shores  of  the  frozen  seas  of  the  north,  clothed  with 
the  furs  of  the  sea-monsters  whose  flesh  had  supplied  them  with 
food,  burrowing  in  icy  caverns  during  the  long  polar  nights,  were 
found  the  dwarfed  and  squalid  Esquimaux.  In  lower  latitudes, 
skirting  the  bays  and  inlets  of  the  Atlantic,  pushing  their  canoes 
along  the  shores  of  the  great  lakes,  or  chasing  the  buffalo  on  the 
vast  meadows  of  the  west,  broken  up  into  numerous  families, 


Reprinted  from  The  AmericanWhig  Review  (New  York),  for  February,  1849. 

2 


10  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

subdivided  into  tribes,  warring  constantly,  and  ever  struggling 
for  ascendency  over  each  other,  were  the  active  and  fearless 
hunters,  falling  chiefly  within  the  modern  extended  denomina- 
tions of  the  Algonquin  and  Iroquois  families.  Still  lower  down, 
in  the  mild  and  fertile  regions  bordering  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
more  fixed  in  their  habits,  half  hunters,  half  agriculturists,  with 
a  systematized  religion,  and  a  more  consolidated  civil  organization, 
and  constituting  the  connecting  link  between  the  gorgeous  semi- 
civilization  of  Mexico  and  the  nomadic  state  of  the  northern 
families,  were  the  Floridian  tribes,  in  many  respects  one  of  the 
most  interesting  groups  of  the  continent.  Beneath  the  tropics, 
around  the  bases  of  the  volcanic  ranges  of  Mexico,  and  occupying 
her  high  and  salubrious  plains,  Cortez  found  the  Aztecs  and  their 
dependencies  —  nations  rivaling  in  their  barbarous  magnificence 
the  splendors  of  the  oriental  world  —  far  advanced  in  the  arts, 
living  in  cities,  constructing  vast  works  of  public  utility,  and 
sustaining  an  imposing,  though  bloody  religious  system.  Passing 
the  nations  of  Central  America,  whose  architectural  monuments 
challenge  comparison  with  the  proudest  of  the  old  world,  and 
attest  the  advanced  condition  and  great  power  of  their  builders, 
Pizarro  found  beneath  the  equator  a  vast  people,  living  under  a 
well-organized  and  consolidated  government,  attached  to  a  primi- 
tive Sabianism,  fixed  in  their  habits  and  customs,  and  happy  in 
their  position  and  circumstances.  Still  beyond  these  to  the  south- 
ward, were  the  invincible  Araucanians,  together  with  numerous 
other  nations,  with  distinctive  features,  filling  still  lower  places 
in  the  scale  of  advancement,  and  finally  subsiding  into  the  squalid 
counterparts  of  the  Esquimaux  in  Patagonia. 

These  numerous  nations,  exhibiting  contrasts  so  striking,  and 
institutions  so  novel  and  interesting,  it  might  be  supposed,  would 
have  at  once  attracted  the  attention  of  the  learned  of  that  day,  and 
insured  at  their  hands  a  full  and  authentic  account  of  their  govern- 
ment, religion,  traditions,  customs,  and  modes  of  life.  The 
men,  however,  who  subverted  the  empires  of  Montezuma  and 
the  Incas,  were  bold  adventurers,  impelled  for  the  most  part  by 
an  absorbing  avarice  and  unfitted  by  habit,  as  incapable, 
from  education  and  circumstances,  of  transmitting  to  us  correct 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUINS.  11 

or  satisfactory  information  respecting  the  nations  with  which 
they  were  acquainted.  The  ecclesiastics  who  followed  in  their 
train,  from  whom  more  might  have  been  expected,  actuated 
by  a  fierce  bigotry,  and  eager  only  to  elevate  the  symbol  of 
their  intolerance  over  the  emblems  of  a  rival  priesthood, 
misrepresented  the  religious  conceptions  of  the  Indians,  and 
exaggerated  the  bloody  observances  of  the  aboriginal  ritual,  as 
an  apology,  if  not  a  justification,  for  their  own  barbarism  and 
cruelty.  They  threw  down  the  high  altars  of  Aztec  superstition, 
and  consecrated  to  their  own  mummeries  the  solar  symbols  of  the 
Peruvian  temples.  They  burned  the  pictured  historical  and 
mythological  records  of  the  ancient  empire  in  the  public  square 
of  Mexico  ;  defaced  the  sculptures  on  her  monuments,  and  crushed 
in  pieces  the  statues  of  her  gods.  Yet  the  next  day,  with  an 
easy  transition,  they  proclaimed  the  great  impersonation  of  the 
female,  or  productive  principle  of  nature,  who  in  the  Mexican, 
as  in  every  other  system  of  mythology,  was  the  consort  of  the 
Sun,  to  be  no  other  than  the  Eve  of  the  Mosaic  record,  or  the 
Mother  of  Christ ;  they  even  tracked  the  vagrant  St.  Thomas  in 
the  person  of  the  benign  Quetzalcoatl,  the  Mexican  counterpart 
of  the  Hindoo  Buddha  and  the  Egyptian  Osiris  ! 

All  these  circumstances  have  contributed  to  throw  doubt  and 
uncertainty  over  the  Spanish  accounts  of  the  aboriginal  nations. 
Nor  were  the  circumstances  attending  European  adventure  and 
settlements,  in  other  parts  of  the  continent,  much  more  favorable 
to  the  preservation  of  impartial  and  reliable  records.  The  Puritan 
of  the  north  and  the  gold-hunter  of  Virginia  and  Carolina,  looked 
with  little  interest  and  less  complacency  upon  the  "  wilde  salvages" 
with  which  they  were  surrounded,  and  of  whom  Cotton  Mather 
wrote,  that  "  Although  we  know  not  when  nor  how  they  first  be- 
came inhabitants  of  this  mighty  continent,  yet  we  may  guess  the 
devil  decoyed  these  miserable  salvages  hither,  in  hopes  that  the 
gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  would  never  come  to  destroy  his 
absolute  empire  over  them." 

The  Jesuits  and  other  enthusiasts,  the  propagandists  of  the 
Catholic  faith  among  the  northern  tribes,  were  more  observant 
and  correct,  but  their  accounts  are  very  meagre  in  matters  of  the 


12  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

most  consequence,  in  researches  concerning  the  history  and  re- 
ligion of  the  aborigines.     All  treated  the  religious  conceptions 
and  practices  and  transmitted  traditions  of  the  Indians  with  little 
regard.     Indeed  it  has  been  only  during  the  last  century,  since 
European  communication  with  the  primitive  nations  of  Southern 
Asia,  and  a  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  oriental  literature, 
have  given  a  new  direction  to  researches  into  the  history  of  mind 
and  man,  that  the  true  value  of  the  religious  notions  and  the  re- 
corded or  transmitted  traditions  of  various  nations,  in  determin- 
ing their  origins  and  connections,  and  illustrating  their  remote 
history,  has  been  ascertained.     And  even  now  there  are  few  who 
have  a  just  estimation  of  their  importance  in  these  respects.     It 
may  however  be  claimed,  in  the  language  of  an  erudite  American, 
that  "  of  all  researches  which  most  effectually  aid  us  to  discover 
the  origin  of  a  nation  or  people,  whose  history  is  either  unknown, 
or  deeply  involved  in  the  obscurity  of  ancient  times,  none  are 
perhaps  attended  with  such  important  results,  as  the  analysis  of 
their  theological  dogmas,  and  their  religious  practices.     To  such 
matters  mankind  adheres  with  the  greatest  tenacity,  and  though 
both  modified  and  corrupted  in  the  revolutions  of  ages,  they  still 
preserve  features  of  their  original  construction  when  language, 
arts,  sciences  and  political  establishments  no  longer  retain  distinct 
lineaments  of  their  ancient  constitutions." 

The  traveler  Clarke,  maintaining  the  same  position,  observes, 
"  that  by  a  proper  attention  to  the  vestiges  of  ancient  supersti- 
tion, we  are  sometimes  enabled  to  refer  a  whole  people  to  their 
original  ancestors,  with  as  much  if  not  more  certainty,  than  by 
observations  made  upon  their  languages,  because  the  superstition 
is  engrafted  upon  the  stock,  but  the  language  is  liable  to  change." 
However  important  is  the  study  of  military,  civil  and  political 
history,  the  science  is  incomplete  without  mythological  history, 
and  he  is  little  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  philosophy,  who  can 
perceive  in  the  fables  of  antiquity  nothing  but  the  extravagance 
of  a  fervid  imagination.1  It  is  under  this  view,  in  the  absence  of 


1  "  The  existence  of  similar  religious  ideas  in  remote  region!?,  inhabited  by  different  races,  is  an 
interesting  subject  of  study ;  furnishing  as  it  does,  one  of  the  most  important  links  in  the  great  chain 
of  communication  which  binds  together  the  distant  families  of  nations."—  PrescoWs  Mexico. 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUINS.  13 

such  information  derivable  from  early  writers,  as  may  form  the 
basis  of  our  inquiries  into  the  history  of  the  American  race,  its 
origin,  and  the  rank  which  it  is  entitled  to  hold  in  the  scale  of 
human  development,  that  the  religious  conceptions  and  observ- 
ances, and  authentic  traditions  of  the  aboriginal  nations,  become 
invested  with  new  interest  and  importance.  And  although  the 
opportunities  for  collecting  them,  at  this  day,  are  limited,  and 
much  care  and  discrimination  is  requisite  to  separate  that  which 
is  original  from  what  is  derivable,  still  they  perhaps  afford  the 
safest  and  surest  means  of  arriving  at  the  results  desired.  Not 
that  I  would  be  understood  as  undervaluing  physical  or  philo- 
logical researches,  in  their  bearings  upon  these  questions  ;  for  if 
the  human  mind  can  ever  flatter  itself  with  having  discovered  the 
truth,  it  is  when  many  facts,  and  these  facts  of  different  kinds, 
unite  in  producing  the  same  result. 

Impressed  with  these  views,  I  have,  in  pursuing  investigations 
in  another  but  cognate  department  of  research,  taken  considera- 
ble pains  to  collect  from  all  available  sources,  such  information 
as  seemed  authentic,  relating  not  only  to  the  religious  ceremonies 
and  conceptions,  but  also  to  the  mythological  and  historical  tra- 
ditions of  the  aborigines  of  all  parts  of  the  continent.  An  analysis 
and  comparison  of  these  have  led  to  some  most  extraordinary 
results,  which  it  would  be  impossible,  in  the  narrow  scope  of  this 
paper,  to  indicate  with  necessary  fullness.  It  may  be  said  gener- 
ally, that  they  exhibit  not  only  a  wonderful  uniformity  and 
concurrence  in  their  elements  and  more  important  particulars, 
but  also  an  absolute  identity,  in  many  essential  respects,  with 
those  which  existed  among  the  primitive  nations  of  the  old  world, 
far  back  in  the  monumental  and  "traditional  periods. 

Among  the  various  original  manuscripts  which,  in  the  course 
of  these  investigations,  fell  into  my  possession,  I  received  through 
the  hands  of  the  executors  of  the  lamented  Mcollet,  a  series  by 
the  late  Prof.  C.  S.  Rafmesque  —  well  known  as  a  man  of  science 
and  of  an  inquiring  mind,  but  whose  energies  were  not  sufficiently 
concentrated  to  leave  a  decided  impression  in  any  department  of 
research.  A  man  of  unparalleled  industry,  an  earnest  and  in- 
defatigable collector  of  facts,  he  was  deficient  in  that  scope  of 


14  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

mind  joined  to  severe  critical  powers,  indispensable  to  correct 
generalization.  While,  therefore,  it  is  usually  safe  to  reject  his 
conclusions,  we  may  receive  his  facts,  making  proper  allowances 
for  the  haste  with  which  they  were  got  together. 

Among  these  manuscripts  ("  rudis  indigestaque  moles"},  was  one 
entitled  the  Walum  Olurn,  (literally,  painted  sticks),  or  painted  and 
engraved  traditions  of  the  Lenni-Lenape,  comprising  five  divi- 
sions, the  first  two  embodying  the  traditions  referring  to  the 
creation  and  a  general  flood,  and  the  rest  comprising  a  record  ot 
various  migrations,  with  a  list  of  ninety-seven  chiefs,  in  the  order 
of  their  succession,  coming  down  to  the  period  of  the  discovery. 
This  manuscript  also  embraces  one  hundred  and  eighty-four  com- 
pound mnemonic  symbols,  each  accompanied  by  a  sentence  or 
verse  in  the  original  language,  of  which  a  literal  translation  is  given 
in  English.  The  only  explanation  which  we  have  concerning  it,  is 
contained  in  a  foot  note,  in  the  hand  of  Rafinesque,  in  which  he 
states  that  the  manuscript  and  wooden  originals  were  obtained  in 
Indiana  in  1822,  and  that  they  were  for  a  long  time  inexplicable, 
"until  with  a  deep  study  of  the  Delaware,  and  the  aid  of  Zeis- 
berger's  manuscript  dictionary  in  the  library  of  the  Philosophical 
Society,  a  translation  was  effected."  This  translation,  it  may  here 
be  remarked,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  test  it,  is  a  faithful  one, 
and  there  is  slight  doubt  that  the  original  is  what  it  professes  to 
be,  a  genuine  Indian  record.  The  evidence  that  it  is  so,  is  how- 
ever rather  internal  and  collateral  than  direct.1  The  traditions 
which  it  embodies  coincide,  in  most  important  respects,  with  those 
which  are  known  to  have  existed,  and  which  still  exist,  in  forms 
more  or  less  modified,  among  the  various  Algonquin  tribes,  and 
the  mode  in  which  they  are  recorded  is  precisely  that  which  was 
adopted  by  the  Indians  of  this  stock,  in  recording  events,  com- 
municating intelligence,  etc.,  and  which  has  not  inaptly  been 
denominated  picture-writing. 

The  scope  of  this  system  of  picture-writing,  and  the  extent  to 

1  Since  the  above  was  written,  a  copy  of  Raflnesqne's  American  Nations,  published  in  1836,  has 
fallen  under  my  notice.  It  is  a  singular  jnnible  of  facts  and  fancies,  and  it  is  perhaps  unfortunate 
for  the  manuscript,  spoken  of  in  the  text,  that  it  falls  in  such  a  connection.  The  only  additional 
information  we  have  respecting  it,  is  that  it  was  "  obtained  by  the  late  Dr.  Ward  of  Indiana,  of  the 
remnant  of  the  Delawares  on  the  White  river." 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUINS.  15 

which  it  was  applied,  have  not  been  generally  understood  nor 
fully  recognized.  Without,  however,  going  into  an  analysis  of 
the  system,  its  principles  and  elements  —  an  inquiry  of  much 
interest — it  may  be  claimed,  upon  an  array  of  evidence  which 
will  admit  of  no  dispute,  that  under  it  the  Indians  were  not  only 
able  to  communicate  events  and  transmit  intelligence,  but  also 
to  record  chants  and  songs,  often  containing  abstract  ideas  — 
allusions  to  the  origin  of  things,  the  power  of  nature,  and  to  the 
elements  of  their  religion.  "  The  Indians,"  says  Heckewelder, 
"  have  no  alphabet,  nor  any  mode  of  representing  words  to  the 
eye,  yet  they  have  certain  hieroglyphics,  by  which  they  describe 
facts  in  so  plain  a  manner,  that  those  who  are  conversant  with 
their  marks,  can  understand  them  with  the  greatest  ease  —  as 
easily,  indeed,  as  they  can  understand  a  piece  of  writing."1  This 
writer  also  asserts  that  the  simple  principles  of  the  system  are  so 
well  recognized,  and  of  so  general  application,  that  the  members 
of  different  tribes  could  interpret  with  the  greatest  facility  the 
drawings  of  other  and  remote  tribes.  Loskiel  has  recorded  his 
testimony  to  the  same  effect.  He  says :  "  The  Delawares  use 
hieroglyphics  on  wood,  trees  and  stones,  to  give  caution,  for  com- 
munication, to  commemorate  events  and  preserve  records.  Every 
Indian  understands  their  meaning,  etc."  2  Mr.  Schoolcraffc  also 
observes  of  the  Ojibwas,  that  "  every  path  has  its  blazed  and 
figurated  tree,  conveying  intelligence  to  all  that  pass,  for  all  can 
understand  these  signs,  which,"  he  adds,  "  are  taught  to  the  young 
as  carefully  as  our  alphabet."  Testimony  might  be  accumulated 
upon  this  point,  to  an  indefinite  extent,  were  it  necessary  to  our 
present  purpose. 

Most  of  the  signs  used  in  this  system  are  representations  of 
things  :  some  however  were  derivative,  others  symbolical,  and 
still  others  entirely  arbitrary.  They  however  were  not  capable 
of  doing  more  than  to  suggest  classes  of  ideas,  which  would  not 
be  expressed  in  precisely  the  same  words  by  different  individuals. 
They  were  taught  in  connection  with  certain  forms  of  expression, 
by  which  means  they  are  made  essentially  mnemonic  —  a  simple 


1  Hist.  Acct.  of  the  Indian  Nations,  p.  118. 
8  Hist.  United  Brethren  in  America,  p.  25. 


16  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

or  compound  sign,  thus  serving  to  recall  to  mind  an  entire  sen- 
tence or  a  series  of  them.  A  single  figure,  with  its  adjuncts, 
would  stand  for  the  verse  of  a  song,  or  for  a  circumstance  which 
it  would  require  several  sentences  to  explain. 

Thus  the  famous  Metai  song  of  the  Chippeways,  presented  by 
Mr.  Catlin,  although  embracing  but  about  thirty  signs,  occupied, 
in  the  slow,  monotonous  chant  of  the  Indians,  with  their  numerous 
repetitions,  nearly  an  hour  in  its  delivery.  James  observes,  re- 
specting the  recorded  Indian  songs — "  They  are  usually  carved 
on  a  flat  piece  of  wood,  and  the  figures  suggest  to  the  minds  of 
those  who  have  learned  the  songs,  the  ideas  and  the  order  of  their 
succession.  The  words  are  not  variable,  but  must  be  taught ; 
otherwise,  though  from  an  inspection  of  the  figure  the  idea  might 
be  comprehended,,  no  one  would  know  what  to  sing."  Most  of 
the  Indian  lore  being  in  the  hands  of  the  priests  or  medicine-men, 
the  teaching  of  these  songs  was  almost  entirely  monopolized  by 
them.  They  taught  them  only  to  such  as  had  distinguished  them- 
selves in  war  and  the  chase,  and  then  only  upon  the  payment  of 
large  prices.  Tanner  states  that  he  was  occupied  more  than  a 
year  in  learning  the  great  song  for  "  medicine  hunting,"  and 
then  obtained  his  knowledge  only  at  the  expense  of  many  beaver 
skins.  After  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  among  some  of 
the  "Western  tribes,  prayers  were  inscribed  on  pieces  of  wood,  in 
mnemonic  symbols,  in  the  making  and  teaching  of  which  to  their 
followers,  some  of  the  Christian  chiefs  obtained  a  profitable 
monopoly. 

Admitting  then,  as  we  must  do  upon  this  evidence,  that  the 
Algonquins  had  the  .means  of  imperfectly  recording  their  tradi- 
tions, songs,  etc.,  we  can  readily  understand  how  these  might  be 
taught  by  father  to  son,  and  perpetuated  in  great  purity  through 
a  succession  of  priests  —  the  sages  of  the  aboriginal  races.  The 
fact  that  they  were  recorded,  even  in  the  rude  way  here  indicated, 
would  give  them  a  degree  of  fixedness,  and  entitle  them  to  a 
consideration  which  they  would  not  possess  if  handed  down  in  a 
simple  oral  form.1 

1 "  Were  it  not,"  says  Dr.  Barton,  in  his  paper  on  the  Origin  of  the  American  Nations,  published 
in  the  Transactions  of  the  Philosophical  Society  —  "Were  it  not  for  the  traditions  of  many  of  the 
American  nations,  we  might  for  ever  remain  in  doubt  concerning  their  real  origin.  These  tradi- 
tions are  entitled  to  much  consideration ;  for,  notwithstanding  the  rude  condition  of  most  of  the 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUINS.  17 

The  manuscript  under  consideration  seems  to  be  a  series  of  In- 
dian traditional  songs,  in  the  original  mnemonic  signs,  with  the 
words  attached  to  them,  written  out  from  the  recitations  of  the  In- 
dians, by  some  person  conversant  with  the  Indian  tongue,  precisely 
as  we  find  some  of  the  songs  recorded  by  James,  in  his  Appendix 
to  Tanner's  Narrative.  As  already  observed,  it  has  strong  inter- 
nal evidence  of  being  what  it  purports  to  be  —  evidence  suffi- 
ciently strong,  in  my  estimation,  to  settle  its  authenticity.  I  may 
however  add,  that,  with  a  view  of  leaving  no  means  unemployed 
to  ascertain  its  true  value,  I  submitted  it,  without  explanation,  to 
an  educated  Indian  chief  (Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh),  George  Cop  way, 
who  unhesitatingly  pronounced  it  authentic,  in  respect  not  only 
to  the  original  signs  and  accompanying  explanations  in  the 
Delaware  dialect,  but  also  in  the  general  ideas  and  conceptions 
which  it  embodies.  He  also  bore  testimony  to  the  fidelity  of  the 
translation. 

In  submitting,  therefore,  the  following  paraphrase  of  these 
singular  records,  I  feel  I  am  not  obtruding  the  coinage  of  a  curious 
idler,  nor  an  apocryphal  record,  but  presenting  matter  deserving 
of  attention,  and  of  important  bearing  upon  many  interesting 
questions  connected  with  the  history  of  our  aboriginal  nations. 

It  will  be  readily  understood  that  I  have,  in  numerous  instances, 
been  compelled  to  adopt  forms  of  expression,  not  common  to  the 
Indian  languages ;  so  far  as  practicable,  however,  the  words  have 
been  literally  rendered,  and  the  Indian  form  of  expression  pre- 
served ;  and  I  feel  some  confidence  in  saying  that  no  violence 
has  been  done  to  the  original  in  the  paraphrase. 

For  the  sake  of  convenience,  I  have  divided  the  manuscript  into 
two  parts ;  the  first  embracing  the  traditions  referring  to  the  crea- 
tion, etc.,  and  the  second  those  which  may  be  regarded  as  historical. 
It  will  be  observed  that  there  are  various  interruptions  or  pauses 
in  the  narrative,  which  indicate  the  individual  traditions. 

In  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  the  manuscript  is  written, 
the  first  two  songs  or  chants  are  presented  as  they  appear  in  the 
original.  We  have  first,  the  original  sign ;  second,  the  suggested 
verse  or  sentence  in  the  Delaware  dialect ;  and  third,  a  literal 
translation  of  the  same  in  English. 

tribes,  they  are  often  perpetuated  in  great  purity,  as  I  have  discovered  by  much  attention  to  their 
history." 

3 


18 


THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 


SONO  I.— TEE  CREATION. 

1.  Say  ewitalli      wemiguma      wokgetaki.1 

At  first  there       all  sea-water     above  land 

2.  Hackung-kwelik  owanaku  wakyutali 
Above  much  water  foggy  (was)  and  (or  also)  there 

Kitanitowitessop.2 
Creator  he  was. 

3.3  Sayewis4    hallemiwis5  nolemiwi  Kitanitowit- 
First-being,  Eternal-being,  invisible  Creator 

essop. 
he  was. 

4.  Sohalawak      kwelik        hakik       owak 

He  causes  them  much  water  much  land  much  air  (or 

awasagamak. 
clouds)  much  heaven. 

5.  Sohalawak     gishuk     nipanum     alankwak. 
He  causes  them  the  Sun     the  moon     the  stars. 


6.  "Wemi-sohalawak  yulik  yuch-aan. 

All  he  causes        these  well  to  move. 

7.  Wich-owagan          ksliakan          moshakwat 
With  action  (or  rapidly)  it  blows  (wind)  it  clears  up 

kwelik          kshipelep. 
great  waters         it  ran  off. 

8.  Opeleken     mani-menak     delsin-epit. 
It  looks  bright  made  islands      is  there  at. 


9.  Lappinup  Kitanitowit  manito  manitoak. 
Again  when    Creator     he  made  spirits  or  makers. 


1  The  terminal  aki  is  a  contraction  of  hakki,  land,  and  frequently  denotes  place  simply. 

2  Written  Getanitowit  liy  Heckewelder,  p.  422. 

3  Figure  3  is  a  representation  of  the  sun,  which  was  the  Algonquin  symbol  of  the  Great  Spirit. 

4  The  termination  wiss  or  iss  makes  according  to  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  whatever  precedes  it  personal 
(AlgicRes.,\o\.i,  p.  201).  The  better  translation  would  therefore  be,  "The  First,"  "  The  Eternal,  "  &c. 

6  Allowini,  more,  and  wulik,  good,  enter  into  most  designations  of  the  Supreme.—  Heck.,  p.  422. 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUINS. 


19 


10.  Owiniwak     Angelatawiwak     chichankwak 
First  beings  also  and  Angels  Souls  also 

wemiwak. 
and  all. 


11.  Wtenk-manito  'jinwis1  lennowak  mukom. 
After  he  made     beings     men  and  grandfather. 


12.         Milap        netami-gaiio        owini-gaho. 
He  gave  them     the  first  mother    first-being's- 
mother. 


13.  Namesik-milap  tulpewik  awesik  cholensak. 
Fishes  he  gave  him     turtles     beasts     birds. 

14.  Makimani-shak        sohalawak        makowini 
Bad  Spirit  but          he  causes  them      bad  beings 
n'akowak    amangamek. 

black  snakes         monsters  (or  large  reptiles). 


15.  Sohalawak  uchewak  sohalawak  pungusak. 
He  causes  them    flies    he  causes  them       gnats. 


16.  Nitisak    wemi-owini    w'delsinewuap. 
Friends         all  beings  were  then. 


1  In  the  Chippeway,  according  to  McKenzie  and  Long,  ninnee  or  inini  means  man.  Mr.  School- 
craft  states  thatininee  is  the  diminutive  form  of  the  word,  signifying;  little-men,  as  Puck-wudj-ininee, 
"vanishing  little  men,1'  the  fairy-men  of  Algonquin  story.  The  cognate  term  of  the  text  seems  to 
have  a  slightly  different  meaning :  it  is  translated  beings,  and  is  written  nijini  or  yini,  beings ;  owini, 
first  beings,  mako-wini,  evil  beings,  etc.  In  the  Delaware  dialect  lenno  or  lenna  meant  man,  and  is 
so  translated  in  the  text.  The  true  designation  of  the  Dela  wares  was  "  Lenni-Lenape,"  which  is  usu- 
ally understood  to  mean  "  Original"  or  "  True  men."  It  is  not  impossible  that  it  is  compounded  of 
"  nijini"  beings,  and  lenno,  men ;  literally,  men-beings.  This  compound  may  have  been  suggestive 
of  something  superior  to  men  in  general  or  collectively. 


20 


THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 


17.  Kiwis,     wunand    wishi-manitoak    essopak. 
Thou  being    good  God    good  spirits    were  there. 

18.  Nijini      netami  lennowak     nigoha     netami 
The  beings  the  first     men         mothers         first 
okwewi  nantinewak. 

little  spirits  (fairies). 


wives 


19.  Gattamin 
Fat  fruits 
nantine. 
little  spirits. 


netami 
the  first 


mitzi 
food 


nijiti 
the  beings 


20.  Wemi     wingi-namenep      wemi-ksin     elan- 
All         willingly  pleased  all  easy        think- 

damep     wullatemanuwi. 
ing  happy. 

21.  Shukand      eli-kimi      rnekenikink      wakon 
But  then     while  secretly     on  earth     snake-god1 
powako  init'ako. 

priest-snake  worship  snake. 

22.  Mattalugas     pallalugas    maktatin     owagan 
Wickedness         crime         unhappiness     actions, 
payat-chikutali. 

coining  there  then. 

23.  Waktapan-payat       wihillan       mboagan. 
Bad  weather  coming     distempers         death. 


24.  "Wonwemi  wiwunch-kamik     atak-kitahikan 
This  all  very  long  aforetime  beyond  great  waters 
netami-epit. 
first  land  at. 


1  The  snake  among  the  Algonqnins  was  symbolical  of  evil  or  malignant  force. 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUINS.  21 

PARAPHRASE  OF  THE  ABOVE  SONG. 

1.  At  the  first  there  were  great  waters  above  all  the  land, 

2.  And  above  the  waters  were  thick  clouds,  and  there  was  God  the 

Creator  : 

3.  The  first  being,  eternal,  omnipotent,  invisible,  was  God  the  Creator. 

4.  He  created  vast  waters,  great  lands,  and  much  air  and  heaven  ; 

5.  He  created  the  sun,  the  moon  and  the  stars  ; 

6.  He  caused  them  all  to  move  well. 

V.  By  his  power  he  made  the  winds  to  blow,  purifying,  and  the  deep 
waters  to  run  off  : 

8.  All  was  made  bright  and  the  islands  were  brought  into  being. 

9.  Then  again  God  the  Creator  made  the  great  Spirits, 

10.  He  made  also  the  first  beings,  angels  and  souls  : 

11.  Then  made  he  a  man  being,  the  father  of  men  ; 

12.  He  gave  him  the  first  mother,  the  mother  of  the  early  born, 

13.  Fishes  gave  he  him,  turtles,  beasts  and  birds. 

14.  But  the  Evil  Spirit  created  evil  beings,  snakes  and  monsters  : 

15.  He  created  vermin  and  annoying  insects. 

16.  Then  were  all  beings  friends  : 

17.  There  being  a  good  god,  all  spirits  were  good  — 

18.  The  beings,  the  first  men,  mothers,  wives,  little  spirits  also. 

19.  Fat  fruits  were  the  food  of  the  beings  and  the  little  spirits  : 

20.  All  were  then  happy,  easy  in  mind  and  pleased. 

21.  But  then  came  secretly  on  earth  the  snake- (evil)  god,  the  snake- 

priest  and  snake-worship  : 

22.  Came  wickedness,  came  unhappiness. 

23.  Came  then  bad  weather,  disease  and  death. 

24.  This  was  all  very  long  ago,  at  our  early  home. 

The  grand  idea  of  a  Supreme  Unity,  a  Great,  Good,  Infinite 
and  Eternal  Creator,  so  clearly  indicated  in  the  foregoing  song, 
may  be  regarded  by  many  as  the  offspring  of  European  inter- 
course, or  as  a  comparatively  late  engraftment  upon  Algonquin 
tradition.  Without  denying  that  the  teachings  of  the  early  mis- 


THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

sionaries  had  the  effect  of  enlarging  this  conception,  and  of  giving 
it  a  more  definite  form,  it  may  at  the  same  time  be  unhesitatingly 
claimed  that  the  idea  was  an  original  one  with  the  Indian  mind. 
The  testimony  of  the  earliest  travelers  and  of  the  earliest  mis- 
sionaries themselves,  furnishes  us  abundant  evidence  of  the  fact. 
"  Nothing,"  says  Charlevoix,  "  is  more  certain  than  that  the  In- 
dians of  this  continent  have  an  idea  of  a  Supreme  Being,  the 
First  Spirit,  the  Creator  and  Governor  of  the  world."1  And  Los- 
kiel,  not  less  explicit  in  his  testimony,  observes,  "  The  prevailing 
opinion  of  all  these  nations  is,  that  there  is  one  God,  a  great  and 
good  Spirit,  who  created  the  heavens  and  the  'arth;  w.'io  is 
Almighty ;  who  causes  the  fruits  to  grow,  grants  sunshine  and 
provides  his  children  with  food."2  Says  Schoolcraft,  "  They 
believe  in  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being,  who  created  material 
matter,  the  earth  and  heavens,  men  and  animals,  and  filled  space 
with  subordinate  spirits,  having  something  of  his  own  nature,  to 
whom  he  gave  part  of  his  power."  From  this  great  and  good 
being,  it  was  believed,  no  evil  could  come  ;  he  was  invested  with 
the  attribute  of  universal  beneficence,  and  was  symbolized  by  the 
sun.  He  was  usually  denominated  Kitchi-Manitou  or  Gitchy- 
Monedo,  literally,  Great,  Good  Spirit.  Various  other  names  were 
employed  to  designate  him  under  his  various  aspects,  as  Wdske- 
dnd,  Maker;  Wdosemigoyan,  Universal  Father. 

Subordinate  to  this  Supreme,  Good  Being,  was  an  Evil  Spirit, 
Mitchi-Manitou,  or  Mudje-Monedo  (Great  Bad  Spirit),  who,  ac- 
cording to  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  was  a  subsequent  creation,  and  not 
coexistent  with  the  Kitchi-Manitou.  This  seems  implied  in  the 
song,  where  he  is  first  spoken  of  after  the  creation  of  men  and 
beings.  Great  power  was  ascribed  to  him,  and  he  was  regarded 
as  the  cause  and  originator  of  all  the  evils  which  befall  mankind. 
Accordingly  his  favor  was  desired,  and  his  anger  sought  to  be 
averted  by  sacrifices  and  offerings.  The  power  of  the  Mitchi- 
Manitou  was  not,  however,  supposed  to  extend  to  the  future  life.3 
He  is  represented  in  the  text  as  the  creator  of  flies  and  gnats, 


1  Canada,  vol.  ii,  p.  141. 

a  United^  Brethren  in  America,  p.  34. 

3  Carver' s'.Travels,  p.  381. 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUIN s. 


23 


and  other  annoying  insects,  an  article  of  belief  not  exclusively 
Indian.  While  the  symbol  of  the  Good  Spirit  was  the  Sun,  that 
of  the  chief  of  the  Evil  Spirits  was  the  Serpent,  under  which  form 
he  appears  in  the  Chippeway  tradition  of  his  contest  with  the 
demi-god  Manabozho. 

The  idea  of  a  destruction  of  the  world  by  water  seems  to  have 
been  general  amongst  the  Algonquin  nations.  The  traditionary 
details  vary  in  almost  every  instance  where  they  have  been  re- 
corded, but  the  traditionary  event  stands  out  prominently.  The 
catastrophe  is  in  all  cases  ascribed  to  the  Evil  Spirit ;  who,  as 
already  observed,  was  symbolized  as  a  great  Serpent.  He  is 
generally  placed  in  antagonism  to  Manabozho,  a  powerful  demi- 
god or  intermediate  spirit.  These  two  mythological  characters 
have  frequent  conflicts,  and  the  flood  is  usually  ascribed  to  the 
final  contest  between  them.  In  these  cases  the  destruction  of  the 
world  is  but  an  incident.  As  recorded  in  the  Walum  Olum, 
it  originates  in  a  general  conflict  between  the  Good  Spirits,  "  the 
beings,"  and  the  Evil  Spirit,  Maskinako.  The  variation  is,  how- 
ever, unimportant,  for  in  this,  as  in  all  the  other  versions  of  the 
tradition,  Manabozho  appears  in  the  character  of  Preserver.  The 
concurrence  in  the  essential  parts  of  the  several  traditions,  is 
worthy  of  remark. 

SONG  11  —  THE  DELUGE. 

1.  Wulamo     maskan-ako-anup    lennowak 

Long  ago  powerful  snake  when  men  also 
makowini     essopak. 
bad  beings     had  become. 

2.  Maskanako  shingalusit     nijini-essopak 
Strong  snake         enemy      beings  had  become 

shawalendamep     ekin-shingalan. 
became  troubled     together  hating. 

3.  Nishawi  palliton  nishawi  machiton,  nishawi 
Both         fighting      both         spoiling         both 

matta  lungundowin. 
not     peaceful  (or  keeping  peace). 


24 


THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 


4.  Mattapewi     wiki     nihanlowit    mekwazuan. 
Less  men         with       dead  keeper      fighting. 

5.  Maskanako  gichi  penauwelendamep 
Strong  snake    great  resolved 

lennowak  owini  palliton. 

men      beings  to  destroy  (fight). 

6.  N'akowa  petonep,  amangam  petonep 
Black  snake  he  brought,   monster        he  brought 

akopehella  petonep. 

rushing  snake  water  he  brought, 

7.  Pehella-pehella,     pohoka-pohoka,    eshohok- 
Much  water  rushing,  much  go  to  hills,     much 

eshohok    palliton-palliton. 
penetrating,     much  destroying. 

8.  Tulapit  menapit  Nanaboush, 
At  Tula  (or  turtle  land)  at  that  island  Nanabush 

maska-boush,  owinimokom  linowimokom. 
(strong)  of  beings  the  grandfather  of  men 
the  grandfather. 


9.  Gishikin-pommixin 
Being  born  creeping 
move  and  dwell. 


tulagishatten-lohxin. 
at  Tula  he  is  ready  to 


LS:© 


10.  Owini    linowi  wemoltin     pehella    gahani 
Beings     men     all  go  forth         flood         water 

pomniixin  nahiwi         tatalli 

creeping   (floating?)     above  water    which 

tulapin. 
way  (where)  turtle-back. 

11.  Amangamek     makdopamek    alendguwek 
Monsters  of  the  sea  they  were  many       some  of 

metzipannek. 
them    they'did  eat. 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUINS. 


25 


12.  Manito-dasin 
Spirit  daughters 
payat  payat 
coming  coming 


mokol-wichemass      palpal 
boat  helped        come,  come 

wemichemap. 
all  helped. 


13.  Nanaboush,       JSTanaboush,       wemimokom 
Nanabush,     Nanabush,     of  all  the  grandfather, 

winimokom       linnimokom       tula- 
of  beings  the  grandfather,         of  men  the  grand- 

mokom. 
father,       of  turtles  the  grandfather. 

14.  Linapima     tulapima     tulapewi    tapitawi. 
Man  then     turtle  then     turtle  they    altogether. 

15.  Wishanem  tulpewi  pataman 
Frightened  (startled  ?  )  turtle  he             praying 

tulpewi          paniton  wuliton. 

turtle  he         let  it  be         to  make  well. 

16.  Kshipehelen      penkwihilen     kwamipokho 
Water  running  off    it  is  drying    plain  and  moun- 

sitwalikho  maskan  wagan 

tain     path  of  cave       powerful  or  dire      action 

palliwi. 
elsewhere. 

PABAPHBASE. 

1.  Long  ago  came  the  powerful  serpent  (Maskanako),  when  men  had 

become  evil. 

2.  The  strong  serpent  was  the  foe  of  the  beings,  and  they  became 

embroiled,  hating  each  other. 

3.  Then  they  fought  and  despoiled  each  other,  and  were  not  peaceful. 

4.  And  the  small  men  (Mattapewi)  fought  with  the  keeper  of  the  dead 

(Nihanlowii) . 

5.  Then  the  strong  serpent  resolved  all  men  and  beings  to  destroy 

immediately. 

6.  The  black  serpent,  monster,  brought  the  snake-water  rushing, 

7.  The  wide  waters  rushing,  wide  to  the  hills,  everywhere  spreading, 

everywhere  destroying. 

8.  At  the  island  of  the  turtle  (Tula)  was  Manabozho,  of  men  and 

beings  the  grandfather  — 

9.  Being  born  creeping,  at  turtle  land  he  is  ready  to  move  and  dwell. 


26  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

1 0.  Men  and  beings  all  go  forth  on  the  flood  of  waters,  moving  afloat, 

every  way  seeking  the  back  of  the  turtle  (Tulapin). 

11.  The  monsters  of  the  sea  were  many,  and  destroyed  some  of  them. 

12.  Then  the  daughter  of  a  spirit  helped  them  in  a  boat,  and  all  joined, 

saying,  Come  help  ! 

13.  Manabozho,  of  all  beings,  of  men  and  turtles,  the  grandfather  ! 

14.  All  together,  on  the  turtle  then,  the  men  then,  were  all  together. 

15.  Much  frightened,  Manabozho  prayed  to  the  turtle  that  he  would 

make  all  well  again. 

16.  Then  the  waters  ran  off,  it  was  dry  on  mountain  and  plain,  and  the 

great  evil  went  elsewhere  by  the  path  of  the  cave. 

The  allusion  to  the  turtle,  in  the  tradition,  is  not  fully  under- 
stood. The  turtle  was  connected,  in  various  ways,  with  the 
mythological  notions  of  the  upper  Algonquins.  According  to 
Charlevoix  and  Hennepin,  the  Chippeways  had  a  tradition  that 
the  mother  of  the  human  race,  having  been  ejected  from  heaven, 
was  received  upon  the  back  of  a  tortoise,  around  which  matter 
gradually  accumulated,  forming  the  earth.1  The  great  turtle, 
according  to  Henry,  was  a  chief  spirit  of  the  Chippeways,  the 
"  spirit  that  never  lied,"  and  was  often  consulted  in  reference  to 
various  undertakings.  An  account  of  one  of  these  ceremonies  is 
given  by  this  author.2  The  island  of  Michilimakanak  (literally, 
great  turtle)  was  sacred  to  this  spirit,  for  the  reason,  probably, 
that  a  large  hill  near  its  centre  was  supposed  to  bear  some  resem- 
blance, in  form,  to  a  turtle.3  The  turtle  tribe  of  the  Lenape,  says 
Heckewelder,  claim  a  superiority  and  ascendency,  because  of  their 
relationship  to  the  great  turtle,  the  Atlas  of  their  mythology, 
who  bears  this  great  island  (the  earth)  on  his  back.4 

With  these  few  illustrative  observations,  which  might  be  greatly 
extended,  I  pass  to  the  second  or  historical  portion  of  the  tradi- 
tional record,  with  the  simple  remark  that  the  details  of  the 
migrations  here  recounted,  particularly  so  far  as  they  relate  to 
the  passage  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  subsequent  contest  with 
the  Tallegwi  or  Allegwi,  and  the  final  expulsion  of  the  latter, 


1  Charlevoix,  vol.  ii.,  p.  143 ;  Hennepin,  p .  55. 

8  Henry's  Travels,  p.  168. 

3  Ib.,  37,  110. 

*  Heckewelder,  p.  246. 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUINS.  27 

coincide,  generally,  with  those  given   by  various  authors,  and 
well  known  to  have  existed  among  the  Delawares. 

The  traditioiiSj  in  their  order,  relate  first  to  a  migration  from 
the  north  to  the  south,  attended  by  a  contest  with  a  people  de- 
nominated Snakes,  or  Evil,  who  are  driven  to  the  eastward.  One 
of  the  migrating  families,  the  Lowaniwi,  literally  northlings, 
afterwards  separate  and  go  to  the  snow  land,  whence  they  sub- 
sequently go  to  the  east,  towards  the  island  of  the  retreating 
Snakes.  They  cross  deep  waters,  and  arrive  at  Shinaki,  the  Land 
of  Firs.  Here  the  Wunkenapi,  or  Westerners,  hesitate,  preferring 
to  return. 

A  hiatus  follows,  and  the  tradition  resumes,  the  tribes  still 
remaining  at  Shinaki  or  the  Fir  land. 

They  search  for  the  great  and  fine  island,  the  land  of  the  Snakes, 
where  they  finally  arrive,  and  expel  the  Snakes.  They  then 
multiply  and  spread  towards  the  south,  to  the  Akolaki  or  beau- 
tiful land,  which  is  also  called  Shore-land,  and  Big-fir  land.  Here 
they  tarried  long,  and  for  the  first  time  cultivated  corn  and  built 
towns.  In  consequence  of  a  great  drought,  they  leave  for  the 
Shillilakiny  or  Buffalo  land.  Here,  in  consequence  of  disaffection 
with  their  chief,  they  divide  and  separate,  one  party,  the  Weta- 
mowi,  or  the  Wise,  tarrying,  the  others  going  off.  The  Wetamowi 
build  a  town  on  the  Wisawana  or  Yellow  river  (probably  the 
Missouri),  and  for  a  long  time  are  peaceful  and  happy.  War 
finally  breaks  out,  and  a  succession  of  warlike  chiefs  follow,  under 
whom  conquests  are  made,  north,  east,  south  and  west.  In  the 
end  Opekasit  (literally  east-looking)  is  chief,  who,  tired  with  so 
much  warfare,  leads  his  followers  towards  the  sun-rising.  They 
arrive  at  the  Messussipu,  or  Great  river  (the  Mississippi),  where, 
being  weary,  they  stop,  and  their  first  chief  is  Yagawanend,  or 
the  Hut-maker,  under  whose  chieftaincy  it  is  discovered  that  a 
strange  people,  the  Tallegwi,  possess  the  rich  east  land.  Some 
of  the  Wetamowi  are  slain  by  the  Tallegwi,  and  then  the  cry  of 
palliton  I  pattiton  !  I  war !  war  !  !  is  raised,  and  they  go  over  and 
attack  the  Tallegwi.  The  contest  is  continued  during  the  lives 
of  several  chiefs,  but  finally  terminates  in  the  Tallegwi  being 
driven  southwards.  The  conquerors  then  occupy  the  country  on 


28  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

the  Ohio  below  the  great  lakes  —  the  Shawanipekis.  To  the  north 
are  their  friends,  the  Talamatun,  literally  not-of -themselves,  trans- 
lated Hurons.  The  Hurons,  however,  are  not  always  friends, 
and  they  have  occasional  contests  with  them. 

Another  hiatus  follows,  and  then  the  record  resumes  by  saying 
that  they  were  strong  and  peaceful  at  the  land  of  the  Tallegwi. 
They  built  towns  and  planted  corn.  A  long  succession  of  chiefs 
followed,  when  war  again  broke  out,  and  finally  a  portion  under 
Linkewinnek,  or  the  Sharp-looking,  went  eastward  beyond  the 
Talegachukung  or  Alleghany  mountains.  Here  they  spread  widely, 
warring  against  the  Mengwi  or  Spring-people,  the  Pungelika,  Lynx 
or  Eries,  and  the  Mohegans  or  Wolves.  The  various  tribes  into 
which  they  became  divided,  the  chiefs  of  each  in  their  order,  with 
the  territories  which  they  occupied,  are  then  named  —  bringing 
the  record  down  until  the  arrival  of  the  Europeans.  This  latter 
portion  we  are  able  to  verify  in  great  part  from  authentic  history. 

SONG  111.—  MIGEA  TIONS. 

1.  After  the  flood  the  true  men  (Lennapewi)  were  with  the  turtle,  in 

the  cave  house,  the  dwelling  of  Talli. 

2.  It  was  then  cold,  it  froze  and  stormed,  and 

3.  From   the   northern   plain,   they  went    to   possess   milder  lands, 

abounding  in  game. 

4.  That  they  might  be  strong  and  rich,  the  new  comers  divided  the 

land  between  the  hunters  and  tillers  ( Wikhichik,  Elowichik). 

5.  The  hunters  were  the  strongest,  the  best,  the  greatest. 

6.  They  spread  north,  east,  south  and  west  ; 

7.  In  the  white  or  snow  country  (Lumowaki],  the  north  country,  the 

turtle  land  and  the  hunting  country,  were  the  turtle  men  or 
Linapiwi. 

8.  The  Snake  (evil)  people  being  afraid  in  their  cabins,  the  Snake  priest 

(Nakopowa)  said  to  them,  let  us  go  away. 

9.  Then  they  went  to  the  east,  the  Snake  land  sorrowfully  leaving. 

10.  Thus  escaped  the  Snake  people,  by  the  trembling  and  burned  land 

to  their  strong  island  (Akomenaki) . 

11.  Free  from  opposers,  and  without  trouble,  the  Northlings  (Lowaniwi) 

all  went  forth  separating  in  the  land  of  snow  (  Winiaken], 

12.  By  the  waters  of  the  open  sea,  the  sea  of  fish,  tarried  the  fathers  of 

the  White-eagle  (tribe  ?)  and  the  White-wolf. 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUINS.  29 

13.  Our  fathers  were  rich  ;  constantly  sailing  in  their  boats,  they  dis- 

covered to  the  eastward  the  Snake  island. 

14.  Then  said  the  Head-beaver  (  Wihlamok]  and  the  Great-bird,  let  us 

go  to  the  Snake  land. 

15.  All  responded,  let  us  go  and  annihilate  the  Snakes. 

16.  All   agreed,  the   northerlings,  the  easterlings,  to  pass  the  frozen 

waters. 

17.  Wonderful !  They  all  went  over  the  waters  of  the  hard,  stony  sea, 

to  the  open  Snake  waters. 

18.  In  vast  numbers,  in  a  single  night,  they  went  to  the  eastern  or  Snake 

island  ;  all  of  them  marching  by  night  in  the  darkness. 

19.  The  northerlings,  the  easterlings,  the  southerlings   (Shawanapi), 

the  Beaver-men  (Tamakwapis),  the  Wolf -men,  the  Hunters  or 
best  men,  the  priests  (Powatapi),  the  Wiliwapi,  with  their  wives 
and  daughters,  and  their  dogs. 

20.  They  all  arrived  at  the  land  of  Firs  (Shinaking),  where  they  tarried  ; 

but  the  Western  men  (  Wunkenapi)  hesitating,  desired  to  return 
to  the  old  Turtle  land  (Tulpaking). 

It  may  be  suggested  that  the  account  of  the  second  migration, 
across  frozen  waters,  is  so  much  in  accordance  with  the  popular 
prejudice,  as  to  the  mode  in  which  the  progenitors  of  the  Ame- 
rican race  arrived  in  America,  that  it  throws  suspicion  upon  the 
entire  record.  It  is  not  impossible,  indeed,  that  the  original 
tradition  may  have  been  slightly  modified  here,  by  the  dissemi- 
nation of  European  notions  among  the  Indians.  McKenzie, 
however,  observes  of  the  traditions  of  the  northern  Chippeways  : 
"  The  Indians  say  that  they  originally  came  from  another  country, 
inhabited  by  a  wicked  people,  and  had  traversed  a  great  lake, 
which  was  shallow,  narrow  and  full  of  islands,  where  they  suffered 
great  hardships  and  much  misery,  it  being  always  winter,  with 
ice  and  deep  snows.  *•  *  *  They  describe  the  deluge  when  the 
waters  spread  over  the  whole  earth,  except  the  highest  mountain, 
on  the  top  of  which  they  were  preserved."1 

The  preceding  songs  have  something  of  a  metrical  character, 
and  there  is  in  some  of  the  verses  an  arrangement  of  homophones 
which  has  a  very  pleasing  effect.  For  instance,  the  last  verse  of 
the  above  song  is  as  follows  : 

1  McKenzie,  p.  113. 


30  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Wemipayat  guneunga  shinaJcing 
Wunkenapi  chanelendam  pay  diking 
Allowelendam  kowiyey-tulpaking. 

How  far  this  system  was  carried  it  is  difficult  to  say,  but  it  is 
not  unlikely  that  most  of  the  transmitted  songs  or  chants  had 
something  of  this  form. 

The  next  song  resumes,  after  the  lapse  of  an  indefinite  period, 
as  follows  : 

SONG  IV.—  THE  CHRONICLE. 

1.  Long  ago  our  fathers  were  at  Shindki  or  Fir  land. 

2.  The  White  Eagle  ( Wapalanewa)  was  the  path-leader  of  all  to  this 

place. 

3.  They  searched  the  great  and  fine  land,  the  island  of  the  Snakes. 

4.  The  hardy  hunters  and  the  friendly  spirits  met  in  council. 

5.  And  all  said  to  Kalawll  (Beautiful-head)  be  thou  chief  (sakima) 

here. 

6.  Being  chief  he  commanded  they  should  go  against  the  Snakes. 

7.  But  the  Snakes  were  weak  and  hid  themselves  at  the  Bear  hills. 

8.  After  Kalawil,  Wapagokhas  (White-owl)  was  sakima  at  Fir  land. 

9.  After  him  Jantowit  (Maker)  was  chief. 

10.  And  after  him   Chilili  (Snow-bird)  was  sakima.     The  south,  he 

said 

11.  To  our  fathers,  they  were  able,  spreading,  to  possess. 

12.  To  the  south  went  Chilili  ;  to  the  east  went  Tamakwi  (the  Beaver). 

13.  The  South  land  (Shawanaki]  was  beautiful,  shore-land,  abounding 

in  tall  firs. 

14.  The  East  land  ( Wapanaki)  abounded  in  fish  ;  it  was  the  lake  and 

buffalo  land. 

15.  After  Chilili,  Agamek  (Great  warrior)  was  chief. 

16.  Then  our  fathers  warred  against  the  robbers,  Snakes,  bad  men,  and 

stony  men,  Chikonapi,  Akhonapi,  Makatapi,  Assinapi  (Assini- 
boins  ?) 

17.  After  Agamek  came  ten  chiefs,  and  then  were  many  wars,  south, 

east  and  west. 

18.  After  them  was  Langundowi  (the  Peaceful)  sakima,  at  the  Ahola- 

king  (Beautiful  land). 

19.  Following  him  Tasukamend  (Never-bad),  who  was  a  good  or  just 

man. 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUINS.  31 

20.  The  chief  after  him  was  Pemaholend  (Ever-beloved),  who  did  good. 

21.  Then  Matemik  (Town-builder),  and  Pilwihalen. 

22.  And  after  these,  in  succession,  G-unokeni,  who  was  father  long,  and 

Mangipitak  (Big-teeth). 

23.  Then    followed    Olumapi    (Bundler-of -sticks),   who   taught   them 

pictures  (records). 

24.  Came  then  Takwachi  (Who-shivers-with-cold),  who  went  southward 

to  the  Corn  land  (Minihaking}. 

25.  Next  was  Huminiend  (Corn-eater),  who  caused  corn  to  be  planted. 

26.  Then  Alko-ohit  (the  Preserver),  who  was  useful. 

27.  Then  Shiwapi  (Salt-man),  and  afterwards  Penkwonowi  (the  Thirsty), 

when 

28.  There  was  no  rain,  and  no  corn,  and  he  went  to  the  east,  far  from 

the  great  river  or  shore. 

29.  Passing  ovei  a  hollow  mountain  ( Oligonunk)  they  at  last  found 

food  at  Shililaking,  the  plains  of  the  Buffalo  land. 

30.  After  Penkwonowi,  came   Mekwochetta  (the  Weary),  and   Ghin- 

galsawi  (the  Stiff). 

31.  After  him  Kwitikwund  (the  Reprover),  who  was  disliked  and  not 

willingly  endured. 

32.  Being  angry,  some  went  to  the  eastward,  and  some  went  secretly 

afar  off. 

33.  The  wise  tarried,  and  made  Makaholend  (the  Beloved)  chief. 

34.  By  the  Wisarwana  (Yellow  river)  they  built  towns,  and  raised  corn 

on  the  great  meadows. 

35.  All  being  friends,    Tamenend  (the  Amiable,  literally  beaver-like) 

became  the  first  chief. 

36.  The  best  of  all,  then  or  since,  was  Tamenend,  and  all  men  were  his 

friends. 

37.  After  him  was  the  good  chief,  Maskansisil  (Strong-buffalo),  and 

38.  Machigokhos  (Big-owl),  and  Wapikicholen  (White-crane). 

39.  And  then  Wingenund  (the  Mindful  or  Wary),  who  made  feasts. 

40.  After    him    came    Lapawin    (the   White),   and     Wallama    (the 

Painted),  and 

41.  Waptiwapit  (White-bird),  when  there  was  war  again,  north  and 

south. 

42.  Then  was  Tamaskan  (Strong- wolf),  chief,  who  was  wise  in  council 

and 

43.  Who  made  war  on  all,  and  killed  Maskensini  (Great-stone). 


32  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

44.  Messissuwi  (the  Whole)  was  next  chief,  and  made   war   on  the 

Snakes  (Akowini). 

45.  Chitanwulit  (Strong-and-good)  followed,  and  made   war   on  the 

northern  enemies  (Lowanuski}. 

46.  Alkouwi  (the  Lean)  was  next  chief,  and  made  war  on  the  Father- 

snakes  (Towakon). 

47.  Opekasit  (East-looking)  being  next  chief,  was  sad  because  of  so 

much  warfare, 

48.  Said,  let  us  go  to  the  sun-rising  ( Wapagishek)  ;  and  many  went 

east  together. 

49.  The  great  river  (Messussipu]  divided  the  land,  and  being  tired,  they 

tarried  there. 

50.  Yagawanend  (Hut-maker)  was  next  sakima,  and  then  the  Tallegwi 

were  found  possessing  the  east. 

51.  Followed  Chitanitis  (Strong-friend),  who  longed  for  the  rich  east- 

land. 

52.  Some  went  to  the  east,  but  the  Tallegwi  killed  a  portion. 

53.  Then  all  of  one  mind  exclaimed,  war,  war ! 

54.  The    Talamatan    (Not-of -themselves),  and  the  Nitilowan,  all  go 

united  (to  the  war). 

55.  Kinnehepend  (Sharp4ooking)  was  their  leader,  and  they  went  over 

the  river. 

56.  And  they   took  all   that  was   there,  and  despoiled   and  slew  the 

Tallegwi. 

57.  Pimokhasuwi  (Stirring-about)  was  next  chief,  and  then  the  Tallegwi 

were  much  too  strong. 

58.  Tenchekensit  (Open-path)  followed,  and  many  towns  were  given  up 

to  him. 

59.  Paganchihilla  was  chief,  and  the  Tallegwi  all  went  southward. 

60.  Hattanwulatou  (the  Possessor)  was  sakima,  and  all   the  people 

were  pleased. 

61.  South  of  the  lakes  they  settled  their  council-fire,  and  north  of  the 

lakes  were  their  friends  the  Talamatan  (Hurons  ?) 

62.  They  were  not  always  friends,  but  conspired  when  Gunitakan  was 

chief. 

63.  Next  was  Linniwalamen,  who  made  war  on  the  Talamatan. 

64.  Shakagapewi  followed,  and  then  the  Talamatan  trembled. 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUINS.  33 


SONG  V—  THE  CHRONICLE  CONTINUED. 

1.  All  were  peaceful,  long  ago,  at  the  land  of  the  Tallegwi. 

2.  Then  was  Tamaganend  (Beaver-leader)  chief  at  the  White  river 

(  Wapalaneng,  Wabash). 

3.  Wapushuwi  (White-lynx)  followed,  and  ranch  corn  was  planted. 

4.  After  came  Walichinik,  and  the  people  became  very  numerous. 

5.  Next  was  Lekhihitin,    and  made    many  records  (walum-oiumin, 

or  painted-sticks). 

6.  Followed  Kolachuisen  (Blue-bird),  at  the  place  of  much  fruit  or 

food  (MctkeHming). 

7.  Pematalli  was  chief  over  many  towns. 

8.  And  Pepomahemen  (Paddler),  at  many  waters  (or  the  great  waters). 

9.  And  Tankaicon  (Little-cloud)  was  chief,  and  many  went  away. 

10.  The  Nentegos  and  the  Shawanis  went  to  the  south  lands. 

11.  Klchitamak  (Big-beaver)  was  chief  at  the  White  lick  (  Wapaho- 

ninff). 

12.  The  Good-prophet  (  Onowatok}  went  to  the  west. 

13.  He  visited  those  who  were  abandoned  there  and  at  the  south-west. 

14.  Pawanami  (Water-turtle)  was  chief  at  the  Talegahonah  (Ohio) 

river. 

15.  Lakwelend  (Walker)  was  next  chief,  and  there  was  much  warfare. 

16.  Against  the  Towako  (Father  Snakes),  against  the  Sinako  (Stone  or 

Mountain  Snakes),  and  against  the  Lowako  (North  Snakes). 

17.  Then   was    Mokolmokoni    (Grandfather-of -boats)    chief,    and   he 

warred  against  the  Snakes  in  boats. 

1 8.  Wineloioich  (Snow-hunter)  was  chief  at  the  North  land  (X/owashkin). 

19.  And  Linkwekinuk  (Sharp-seer)  was  chief  at  the  Alleghany  moun- 

tains (Talegaclwikang}. 

20.  And  Wapalawikwan  (East- settler)  was  chief  east  of  the  Tallegwi 

land. 

21.  Large  and  long  was  the  east  land  ; 

22.  It  had  no  enemies  (snakes),  and  was  a  rich  and  good  land. 

23.  And  Gikenopalat  (Great-warrior)  was  chief  towards  the  north  ; 

24.  And  Hanaholend  (Stream-lover)  at  the  branching  stream  (Sask- 

wihanang  or  Susquehanna). 

25.  And    G-attawisi  (the    Fat)   was    sakima  at    the  Sassafras  land, 

(  Winaki). 

26.  All  were  hunters  from  the  big  Salt  water  (  Gfishikshapipek,  Chesa- 

4 


34  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

peake,  or  literally  Salt  sea  of  the  sun),  to  the  again  (or  other) 
sea. 

27.  Makliuawip  (Red-arrow)  was  chief  at  tide  water  (Lapihaneng). 

28.  And    Wblomenap  was   chief   at   the   Strong  falls  (Maskekitong, 

Trenton?) 

29.  And  the  Wapenend  and  the  Tumewand  were  to  the  north. 

30.  Walitpattat  (Good-fighter)  was  chief  and  set  out  against  the  north. 

31.  Then  trembled  the  Mahongwi  (the  Iroquois  ?)  and  the  Pungelika 

(Lynx-like,  or  Eries). 

32.  Then  the  second  Tamenend (Beaver)  was  chief,  and  he  made  peace 

with  all. 

33.  And  all  were  friends,  all  united  under  this  great  chief. 

34.  After  him  was  Kichitamak  (Great-good-beaver)  chief  in  the  Sassa- 

fras land. 

35.  Wapahakey  (White-body)  was  chief  at  the  Sea  shore  (Sheyabi). 

36.  Elangonel  (the  Friendly)  was  chief,  and  much  good  was  done. 

37.  And  Pitemunen  was  chief,  and  people  came  from  somewhere. 

38.  At  this  time  from  the  east  sea  came  that  which  was  white  (vessels  ?) 

39.  Makelomush  was  chief  and  made  all  happy. 

40.  Wkdakeningus  was  next  chief,  and  was  a  warrior  at  the  south. 

41.  He  made  war  on  the  Otaliwako  (Cherokee  snakes  or  enemies),  and 

upon  the  Akowetako  (Coweta  ?  snakes). 

42.  Wapagamoski  (White-otter)  was  next  chief,  and  made  the  Tala- 

matans  (Hurons)  friends. 

43.  Wapashum  followed,  and  visited  the  land  of  Tattegwi  at  the  west. ' 

44.  There  were  the  Hiliniki  (Illinois),  the  Shawanis  (Shawanoes),  and 

the  Kenowiki  (Kenhawas?) 

45.  Nitispayat  was  also  chief,  and  went  to  the  great  lakes. 

46.  And  he  visited  the  Wemiamik  (Beaver-children,  or  Miamis),  and 

made  them  friends. 

47.  Then  came  Packimitzin  (Cranberry-eater),  who  made  the  Taica 

(Ottawas)  friends. 

48.  Lowaponskan  was  chief,  and  visited  the  Noisy  place  (  Ganshowenik}. 

49.  And  Tashawinso  was  chief  at  the  Sea  shore  (Sfwvydbing). 

50.  Then  the  children  divided  into  three  parts,  the  Uhamini  (Turtle 

tribe),  the  Minsimini  (Wolf  tribe),   the    Chikimini  (Turkey 
tribe). 

1  "  At  present,"  says  Loskiel,  "  the  Delawares  call  the  whole  country  as  far  as  the  entrance  of  the 
river  Wabash  into  the  Ohio,  Alligewi-nengk,  that  is,  a  land  into  which  they  came  from  distant  parts." 
—  Hist.  United  Brethren,  p.  187. 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUINS.  35 

51.  Epallahchund  was  chief,  and  fought  the  Mahongwi,  but  failed. 

52.  Lcmgomuwi  was  chief,  and  the  Mahongwi  trembled. 

53.  Wanc/omend  was  chief,  yonder  between.  (?) 

54.  The  Otaliwi  and  Wasiotowi  were  his  enemies. 

55.  Wapachikis  (White-crab)  was  chief,  and  a  friend  of  the  Shore 

people. 

56.  Nenachipat  was  chief  towards  the  sea. 

57.  Now  from  north  and  south  came  the  Wapagachik  (White-comers). 

58.  Professing  to  be  friends,  in  big-birds  (ships).     Who  are  they  ? 

Here  stop  the  pictured  records.  There  is,  however,  a  fragment 
in  the  original  manuscripts,  which  may  be  taken  as  a  continua- 
tion, and  concerning  which  Rafinesque  says  nothing  more  than 
that  it  "  was  translated  from  the  Lenape  by  John  Burns."  The 
references,  so  far  as  I  am  able  to  verify  them,  are  historically 
correct.  It  is  here  given  in  its  original  form,  with  no  attempt  at 
paraphrase.  It  resumes  with  an  answer  to  the  question  which 
concludes  the  last  song,  "  who  are  these  Wapsinis  ?" 

SONG  IV—  THE  MODERN  CHRONICLE. 

1.  Alas,  alas  !  we  now  know  who  they  are,  these  Wapsinis  (East- 

people),  who  came  out  of  the  sea  to  rob  us  of  our  lands.  Starving 
wretches  !  they  came  with  smiles,  but  soon  became  snakes  (or 
enemies). 

2.  The  Walumolum  was  made  by  Ttfkhibti  (the  writer),  to  record  our 

glory.  Shall  I  write  another  to  record  our  fall  ?  No  !  Our 
foes  have  taken  care  to  do  that ;  but  I  speak  what  they  know 
not  or  conceal. 

3.  We  have  had  many  other  chiefs  since  that  unhappy  time.     There 

were  three  before  the  friendly  Mikwon  (Miquon  or  Penn)  came. 
Mattanikum^  (Not-strong)  was  chief  when  the  Winakoli  (Swedes) 
came  to  Winaki  •  Nahumen  (Raccoon)  when  the  Sinalwi 
(Dutch)  came,  and  Ikwahon  (Fond-of-women)  when  the  Yank- 
wis  (English)  came.  Miquon  (Penn)  and  his  friends  came  soon 
after. 

4.  They  were  all  received  and  fed  with  corn  ;  but  no  land  was  ever 

sold  to  them  :  we  never  sold  any  land.     They  were  allowed  to 


1  Note  by  Rafinesque.  "  Mattanikum  was  chief  in  1645.  He  is  called  Matta-horn  by  Holm,  whe 
by  a  blunder,  has  made  his  name  half  Swedish.  Hornis  not  Lenapi.  Mattawikum  means  Not- 
horned,  without  horns,  emblem  of  having  little  strength." 


36  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

dwell  with  us,  to  build  houses  and  plant  corn,  as  friends  and 
allies.  Because  they  were  hungry  and  we  thought  them  child- 
ren of  Gishaki  (or  Sun-land),  and  not  serpents  and  children  of 
serpents. 

5.  And  they  were  traders,  bringing  fine  new  tools,  and  weapons,  and 

cloth,  and  beads,  for  which  we  gave  them  skins  and  shells  and 
corn.  And  we  liked  them  and  the  things  they  brought,  for  we 
thought  them  good  and  made  by  the  children  of  Gishaki. 

6.  But  they  brought  also  fire-guns,  and  fire-waters,  which  burned  and 

killed  ;  also  baubles  and  trinkets  of  no  use,  for  we  had  better 
ones  before. 

V.  After  Mikwon,  came  the  sons  of  Dolojo-sakima  (King  Geoi'ge), 
who  said,  more  land,  more  land  we  must  have,  and  no  limit  could 
be  put  to  their  steps. 

8.  But  in  the  north  were  the  children  of  Z/owi-sakima  (King  Louis), 

who  were  our  good  friends,  friends  of  our  friends,  foes  of  our 
foes  ;  yet  with  Dolojo  wished  always  to  war. 

9.  We  had  three  chiefs  after  Mikwon   came  —  Skalichi,  who  was 

another  Tamenend,  and  Sasunam-  Wikwikhon  (Our-uncle-the- 
builder),  and  Tutami  (Beaver-taker),  who  was  killed  by  a  Yank- 
wako  (English-snake),  and  then  we  vowed  revenge. 

10.  Netatawis  (First-new-being)  became  chief  of  all  the  nations  in  the 

west.  Again  at  Talligewink  (Ohio,  or  place  of  Tallegwi)  on  the 
river  Cuyahoga,  near  our  old  friends  the  Talamatans.  And  he 
called  on  all  them  of  the  east  (to  go  to  war). 

11.  But  Tadeskung  was  chief  in  the  east  at  Mahoning,  and  was  bribed 

by  Yankwis  ;  then  he  was  burnt  in  his  cabin,  and  many  of  our 
people  were  killed  at  Hickory  (Lancaster)  by  the  land-robber 
Yankwis. 

12.  Then  we  joined  Lowi  in  war  against  the  Yankwis  •  but  they  were 

strong,  and  they  took  Lowanaki  (North-land,  Canada)  from 
Lowi,  and  came  to  us  in  Talegawink,  when  peace  was  made,  and 
we  called  them  Itichikani  (Big-knives). 

13.  Then  Alimi  (White-eyes)  and  Gelelemind (Buck-killer)  were  chiefs, 

and  all  the  nations  near  us  were  friends,  and  our  grand-children 
again. 

14.  When  the  Eastern-fires  began  to  resist  Dolqjo,  they  said  we  should 

be  another  fire  with  them.  But  they  killed  our  chief  Unamiwi 
(the  Turtle)  and  our  brothers  on  the  Muskingum.  Then  Hopo- 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUINS.  37 

kan  (Strong-pipe)  of  the  Wolf  tribe  was  made  chief,  and  he 
made  war  on  the  EichiJcani-  Yankwis,  and  became  the  friend 
of  Dolojo,  who  was  then  very  strong. 

15.  But  the  Eastern-fires  were  stronger  ;  they  did  not  take  Lowinaki, 

but  became  free  from  Dolojo.  We  went  to  Wapahani  (White 
river)  to  be  further  from  them  ;  but  they  followed  us  everywhere, 
and  we  made  war  on  them,  till  they  sent  MaJchiakho  (Black- 
snake,  General  Wayne),  who  made  strong  war. 

16.  We  next  made  peace  and  settled  limits,  and  our  chief  was  Hacking- 

pouskan  (Hard-walker),  who  was  good  and  peaceful.  He  would 
not  join  our  brothers,  the  Shawanis  and  Ottawas,  nor  Dolojo  in 
the  next  war. 

17.  Yet  after  the  last  peace,  the  Kichikani-Yankwis  came  in  swarms 

all  around  us,  and  they  desired  also  our  lands  of  Wapahani. 
It  was  useless  to  resist,  because  they  were  getting  stronger  and 
stronger  by  joining  fires. 

18.  Kithtilkand  and  Lapanibit  were  the  chiefs  of  our  two  tribes  when 

we  resolved  to  exchange  our  lands,  and  return  at  last  beyond 
the  Masispek,  near  to  our  old  country. 

19.  We  shall  be  near  our  foes  the  Wakon  (Osages),  but  they  are  not 

worse  than  the  Yankwisakon  (English  snakes)  who  want  to 
possess  the  whole  Big-island. 

20.  Shall  we  be  free  and  happy,  then,  at  the  new  Wapahani?     We 

want  rest,  and  peace,  and  wisdom. 

So  terminate  these  singular  records.  It  is  unfortunate  that 
they  lack  that  kind  of  authentication,  which  depends  upon  a  full 
and  explicit  account  of  the  circumstances  under  which  they  were 
found,  transcribed  and  translated.  Rafinesque  was  not  particular 
in  these  matters,  and  his  carelessness  and  often  extravagant 
assumptions,  have  rendered  his  name  of  little  weight  in  matters 
of  research.  Still,  upon  neither  of  these  grounds  may  we  reject 
these  records.  As  already  observed,  they  have  the  internal  evi- 
dence of  genuineness,  and  are  well  supported  by  collateral  cir- 
cumstances. Some  of  these  circumstances  were  presented  at  the 
outset,  and  need  not  be  recapitulated.  Rafinesque  himself  has 
anticipated,  and  thus  disposes  of  one  objection,  not  among  the 
least  formidable :  "  That  so  many  generations  and  names  can 
be  remembered,  may  appear  doubtful  to  some ;  but  when  eym- 


38  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

bolical  signs  and  paintings  are  accompanied  with  songs,  and 
carefully  taught  from  generation  to  generation,  their  retention 
and  perpetuation  is  not  so  remarkable."  To  this  may  with  pro- 
priety be  added  the  subjoined  observations  of  Loskiel :  "  The 
Delawares  delight  in  describing  their  genealogies,  and  are  so  well 
versed  in  them,  that  they  mark  every  branch  of  the  family  with 
the  greatest  precision.  They  also  add  the  character  of  their 
forefathers  :  such  an  one  was  a  wise  and  intelligent  counsellor ; 
a  renowned  warrior,  or  a  rich  man,  etc.  But  though  they  are 
indifferent  about  the  history  of  former  times,  and  ignorant  of  the 
art  of  reading  and  writing,  yet  their  ancestors  were  well  aware 
that  they  stood  in  need  of  something  to  enable  them  to  convey 
their  ideas  to  a  distant  nation,  or  preserve  the  memory  of  re- 
markable events.  To  this  end  they  invented  something  like 
hierogylphics,  and  also  strings  and  belts  of  wampum,  etc."1 

I  have  alluded  to  the  general  identity  of  the  mythological  tra- 
ditions here  recorded,  with  those  which  are  known  to  have  been, 
and  which  are  still  current  among  the  nations  of  the  Algonquin 
stock.  The  same  may  be  observed  of  the  traditions  which  are 
of  a  historical  character,  and  particularly  that  which  relates  to 
the  contest  with  the  people  denominated  the  Tallegwi.  The  name 
of  this  people  is  still  perpetuated  in  the  word  Alleghany,  the  ori- 
ginal significance  of  which  is  more  apparent,  when  it  is  written 
in  an  unabbreviated  form,  Tallegwi-henna,  or  Tallegwi-hanna  liter- 
ally river  of  the  Tallegwi.  It  was  applied  to  the  Ohio  (the 
present  name  is  Iroquois,  and  literally  rendered  by  the  French 
La  Belle  Hivi&re'),  and  is  still  retained  as  the  designation  of  its 
northern  or  principal  tributary.  The  traditionary  contest  between 
the  Lenape  and  the  Tallegwi  is  given  by  Heckewelder,  and  is 
adduced  in  further  illustration  of  the  general  concurrence  above 
mentioned.  The  details  vary  in  some  points,  but  I  am  inclined 
to  give  the  first  position  to  the  tradition  as  presented  in  the 
Walumolum;  it  being  altogether  the  most  simple  and  consistent. 
It  must  be  observed,  that  Mr.  Heckewelder's  diffuse  account  is 
much  condensed  in  the  following  quotations,  and  that  part  which 
refers  to  the  wars  with  the  Cherokees,  etc.,  is  entirely  omitted : 

1  United  Brethren  in  America,  p.  24. 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUINS.  39 

"  The  Lenni-Lenape  (according  to  the  traditions  handed  down  to  them 
from  their  ancestors)  resided  many  hundred  years  ago,  in  a  very  dis- 
tant country,  in  the  western  part  of  the  American  continent.  For  some 
reason,  which  I  do  not  find  accounted  for,  they  determined  on  migrating 
to  the  eastward,  and  accordingly  set  out  together  in  a  body.  After  a 
very  long  journey,  and  many  nights'  encampment  ('night's  encamp- 
ment' is  a  halt  of  a  year  in  a  place),  they  at  length  arrived  on  the 
Namaesi-sipu^  where  they  fell  in  with  the  Mengwi  (Iroquois),  who  had 
likewise  emigrated  from  a  distant  country,  and  had  struck  upon  this 
river  higher  up.  Their  object  was  the  same  with  that  of  the  Delawares  ; 
they  were  proceeding  to  the  eastward,  until  they  should  find  a  country 
that  pleased  them.  The  spies  which  the  Lenape  had  sent  forward  for 
the  purpose  of  reconnoitering,  had  long  before  their  arrival  discovered 
that  the  country  east  of  the  Mississippi  was  inhabited  by  a  very  power- 
ful nation,  who  had  many  large  towns  built  on  the  great  rivers  flowing 
through  the  land.  These  people  (as  I  was  told)  called  themselves 
Tallegwi  or  Talligewi.  Col.  John  Gibson,  however,  a  gentleman  who 
has  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Indians,  and  speaks  several  of  their 
languages,  is  often  of  opinion  that  they  were  called  A.ttigewi.n  *  * 

"  Many  wonderful  things  are  told  of  this  famous  people.  They  are 
said  to  have  been  remarkably  tall  and  stout,  and  there  are  traditions 
that  there  were  giants  among  them.  It  is  related,  that  they  had  built 
to  themselves  regular  fortifications  or  entrenchments,  from  whence  they 
would  sally  out,  but  were  generally  repulsed.  *  *  *  When  the 
Lenape  arrived  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  they  sent  a  message  to 
the  Alligewi,  to  request  permission  to  settle  themselves  in  their  neigh- 
borhood. This  was  refused  them  ;  but  they  obtained  leave  to  pass 
through  the  country,  and  seek  a  settlement  further  to  the  eastward. 
They  accordingly  commenced  passing  the  Mississippi,  when  the  Alligewi 
discovering  their  great  numbers  became  alarmed,  and  made  a  furious 
attack  upon  those  who  had  crossed.  Fired  at  their  treachery,  the 
Lenape  consulted  on  what  was  to  be  done  ;  whether  to  retreat,  or  try 
their  strength  against  their  oppressors.  While  this  was  going  on  the 
Mengwi,  who  had  contented  themselves  with  looking  on  from  a  distance, 
offered  to  join  the  Lenape,  upon  condition  that  they  should  be  entitled 
to  a  share  of  the  country,  in  case  the  combination  was  successful. 

1  This  differs  from  the  foregoing  record,  and  is  undoubtedly  incorrect.  It  is  difficult  to  derive 
Mississippi  from  namaesi-sipu,  which  is  made  up  of  namaesi,  a  fish,  and  gipu,  river.  The  etymol- 
ogy is  clearly  messu,  messi,  or  michi,  signifying  great,  or  as  Mr.  Gallatin  suggests,  the  whole  and 
sipu,  river. 


40  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Their  proposal  was  accepted,  and  the  confederates  were  able,  after 
many  severe  conflicts,  to  drive  the  Alligewi  down  the  Mississippi  river. 
The  conquerors  divided  the  country  between  themselves  ;  the  Mengwi 
selecting  the  lands  in  the  vicinity  of  the  great  lakes,  and  on  their 
tributary  streams,  while  the  Lenape  took  possession  of  the  country 
below  them.  For  a  long  period  of  time,  some  say  many  hundreds  of 
years,  the  two  nations  lived  peaceably,  and  increased  their  numbers 
with  great  rapidity.  Ultimately  some  of  the  most  adventurous  among 
them  crossed  the  mountains  towards  the  rising  sun,  and  falling  on 
streams  running  to  the  eastward,  followed  them  to  the  great  Bay  river 
(Susquehanna),  and  thence  to  the  bay  (Chesapeake)  itself.  As  they 
pursued  their  travels,  partly  by  land  and  partly  by  water,  sometimes 
near  and  sometimes  on  the  great-salt-water  lake  (as  they  call  the  sea), 
they  discovered  the  great  river  which  we  call  the  Delaware  ;  and  still 
further  to  the  eastward,  the  Sheyicbbi  country,  now  called  New  Jersey. 
Afterwards  they  reached  the  stream  now  called  the  Hudson.  The 
reports  of  the  adventurers  caused  large  bodies  to  follow  them,  who 
settled  upon  the  four  great  rivers,  the  Delaware,  Hudson,  Susquehanna 
and  Potomac,  making  the  Delaware,  which  they  call  Lenapewihittuck 
(the  river  of  the  Lenape)  the  centre  of  their  possessions. 

"  They  add  that  a  portion  of  their  people  remained  beyond  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  still  another  portion  tarried  between  the  Mississippi  and 
the  mountains.  The  largest  portion,  they  supposed,  settled  on  the 
Atlantic.  The  latter  were  divided  into  three  tribes,  two  of  which  were 
distinguished  as  Unamis,  or  Turtle,  and  WhalachtffO,  or  Turkey. 
These  chose  the  lands  lying  nearest  the  coast.  Their  settlements  ex- 
tended from  the  Mohicanittuck  (river  of  the  Mohicans  or  Hudson)  to 
beyond  the  Potomac.  *  *  *  The  third  great  tribe,  the  Minsi  (which 
we  have  corrupted  into  Monseys},  or  tribe  of  the  wolf,  lived  back  of  the 
others,  forming  a  kind  of  bulwark,  and  watching  the  nations  of  the 
Mengwi.  They  were  considered  the  most  active  and  warlike  of  all 
the  tribes.  They  extended  their  settlements  from  the  Minisink,  where 
they  had  their  council-fire,  quite  to  the  Hudson  on  the  east,  and  west- 
ward beyond  the  Susquehanna,  and  northward  to  the  head  waters  of 
that  stream  and  the  Delaware.  *  *  *  From  the  above  three  divisions 
or  tribes,  comprising  together  the  body  of  the  people  called  Delawares, 
sprung  many  others,  who,  having  for  their  own  convenience  chosen  dis- 
tinct spots  to  settle  in,  and  increasing  in  numbers,  gave  themselves  names, 
or  received  them  from  others.  *  *  *  *  Meanwhile  trouble  ensued  with 


TRADITIONS  OF  THE  ALGONQUINS.  41 

the  Mengwi,  who  occupied  the  southern  shores  of  the  lakes,  and  re 
suited  in  fierce  and  sanguinary  wars.     The  reverses  of  the  Mengwi  in" 
duced  them  to  confederate,  after  which   time  the  contests  with  the 
Lenape  were  carried  on  with  vigor  until  the  arrival  of  the  French  in 
Canada." 

It  will  be  seen  that  there  is  a  difference  between  the  traditions, 
as  given  by  Heckewelder,  and  the  Walum-olwn  in  respect  to  the 
name  of  the  confederates  against  the  Tallegwi.  In  the  latter  the 
allies  are  called  Talamatan,  literally  Not-of-themselves,  and  which, 
in  one  or  two  cases,  is  translated  Hurons,  with  what  correctness  I 
am  not  prepared  to  say.1  Heckewelder  calls  them  Mengwi,  Iro- 
quois.  This  must  be  a  mistake,  as  the  Mengwi  are  subsequently 
and  very  clearly  alluded  to  in  the  Walum-olum,  as  distinct  from 
the  Talamatan, 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  traditions  of 'almost  all  the  tribes,  on 
the  eastern  shore  of  the  continent,  refer,  with  more  or  less  dis- 
tinctness, to  a  migration  from  the  westward.  "  When  you  ask 
them,"  says  Lawson,  speaking  of  the  Carolina  Indians,  "  whence 
their  fathers  came,  that  first  inhabited  the  country,  they  will 
point  to  the  westward  and  say, '  Where  the  sun  sleeps,  our  fathers 
came  thence.'  "  3  Most  of  the  nations  speak  of  the  passage  of  the 
Mississippi  river.  The  Natchez,  who  assimilated  more  nearly  to 
the  central  American  and  Peruvian  stocks  (the  Toltecan  family), 
informed  Du  Prate  that  they  once  dwelt  at  the  south-west,  "  under 
the  sun." 3  The  Muscogulges  or  Creeks,  according  to  Bartram's 
manuscript,  assert  that  they  formerly  lived  beyond  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  that  they  relinquished  that  country  in  obedience  to  a 
dream  in  which  they  were  directed  to  go  to  the  country  where 
the  sun  rises.  They  claim  that  they  crossed  the  river  in  their 
progress  eastward,  about  the  period  that  De  Soto  visited  Florida. 
The  Cherokees  (a  cognate  tribe)  have  a  similar  tradition.  They 
assert  that  "  a  long  time  ago  all  the  Indians  traveled  a  great 
distance  and  came  to  a  great  water.  Upon  arriving  there,  and 


1  In  Heckewelder  we  find  the  Hnrons  sometimes  called  Delamattenos,  which  is  probably  but 
another  mode  of  writing  Talamatan.  Although  speaking  a  dialect  of  the  Iroquois  language,  the 
Hurons  seem  to  have  generally  maintained  friendly  relations  with  the  Lenape. 

8  Lawson '«  Carolina,  p.  170. 

3 Louisiana,  p.  292. 


42  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

immediately  before  or  immediately  after  crossing,  it  is  not  re- 
membered which,  a  part  went  north  and  another  part  south. 
Those  who  went  northwards  settled  in  two  towns  called  Ka-no- 
wo-gi  and  Nu-ta-gi;  the  others  at  Ka-ga-li-u,  or  old  town,  and 
because  they  took  the  lead  in  the  journey  were  considered  the 
grandfathers  of  the  Indians."  l  Roger  Williams  informs  us 
that  the  south-west,  or  Sawaniwa,  was  constantly  referred  to  by 
the  Indians  of  New  England.  "  From  thence,  according  to  their 
traditions,  they  came.  There  is  the  court  of  their  great  god, 
Cawtantowit ;  there  are  all  their  ancestors'  souls ;  there  they  also 
go  when  they  die,  and  from  thence  came  their  corn  and  beans, 
out  of  Cantantowit' 's  field."  2 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  general  tenor  and  some  of  the 
more  important  details  of  the  traditions  of  the  Indians  of  the 
Algonquin  stock,  as  they  have  been  presented  to  us  by  various 
authorities,  are  the  same  with  those  of  the  foregoing  remarkable 
records.  These  records  are  peculiar,  chiefly  as  giving  us  a 
greater  number  of  details  than  we  before  possessed.  Whatever 
their  historical  value,  they  possess  the  highest  interest,  as  coming 
to  us  through  the  medium  of  a  rude  system  of  representation, 
which  may  be  taken  as  the  first  advance  beyond  a  simple  oral 
transmission  of  ideas,  and  from  which  we  may  trace  upwards  the 
progress  of  human  invention  to  its  highest  and  noblest  achieve- 
ment, the  present  perfected  form  of  written  language. 

1  J.  H.  Payne,  manuscripts. 

2  Key  to  the  Indian  Languages  of  America,  &c. 


A  RIDE  WITH  THE  APACHES 
BY  HERBERT  C.  DORR. 

[The  following  sketch  has  been  prepared  from  the  unpublished  Narrative  of  Jose  Mendivil,  who 
was  a  captive  of  the  Apaches,  and  became  by  adoption  one  of  the  tribe,  remaining  witli  them  seven 
years.] 

THE  Apaches  are  in  the  habit  of  making,  about  once  a  year,  a 
grand  visit  to  the  Zuni  Indians,  for  the  purpose  of  trade  and  talk ; 
to  hear  and  tell  stories  ;  occasionally,  to  get  wives,  or  see  a  sweet- 
heart secretly.  This  visit  to  the  Zunis  is  an  event  in  the  Apache 
calendar  —  like  a  journey  to  some  renowned  city  or  great  natural 
wonder  —  and  for  it  they  make  much  preparation.  Their  horses 
are  fattened  in  advance  until  their  coats  are  glossy  and  sleek, 
and  they  are  trained  daily,  like  racers  for  the  racetrack,  with 
the  utmost  care.  Each  Indian  strives  to  make  the  greatest  im- 
pression on  his  Zuni  friends,  by  the  quality  of  his  horse,  his  fleet- 
ness  and  strength,  the  splendor  of  his  trappings,  and  the  magni- 
ficence of  his  rider,  as  well  as  by  the  value  and  beauty  of  the 
presents  he  carries  with  him. 

The  trappings  of  a  single  horse  sometimes  have  the  value  of 
hundreds  of  dollars.  If  they  can  obtain  them,  by  theft  or  pur- 
chase, they  have  the  richest  Mexican  saddles  embossed  with  silver, 
and  sometimes  even  set  with  gems,  their  bridles  of  the  finest 
wrought  leather,  resplendent  with  silver  ornaments,  and  all  the 
adornments  which  the  Mexican,  in  his  luxurious  taste,  lavishes 
upon  a  favorite  horse. 

A  half-dozen  horses  are  sometimes  killed  in  the  training, 
before  one  is  found  of  sufficient  bottom  and  fleetness  to  satisfy 
the  fastidious  savage.  The  horse  is  shod  with  rawhide,  and 
many  extra  pairs  of  shoes  are  carried  along,  lest  the  hoofs  of  the 
favorite  should  become  tender  before  the  home-journey.  The 
Indian  himself  dresses  in  the  best  style  that  his  circumstances 
will  permit.  He  wears  the  garments  of  any  nation,  or  of  any 
class  of  Mexicans  or  Americans  that  he  may  have  recently  robbed 

1  Reprinted  from  The  Overland  Monthly  (San  Francisco),  for  April,  1871. 


44  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

and  murdered  on  the  highways  of  travel.  The  Mexican  garb, 
with  pants  open  at  the  sides  and  garnished  with  silver  bells, 
pleases  him  the  best ;  but,  if  all  else  fail,  a  red  or  gray  shirt 
taken  from  a  murdered  soldier  will  do,  in  addition  to  his  national 
costume  of  paint  and  the  thchlacah  (waistcloth,  worn  around  the 
loins),  which  constitutes  their  only  raiment  in  warm  weather. 

Every  body  in  the  encampment  manifests  the  greatest  interest 
in  the  intended  expedition.  Nothing  else  is  talked  about.  They 
no  longer  speak  of  the  gente  (the  generic  term  applied  to  all  civil- 
ized people,  their  hereditary  enemies) ;  no  one  goes  out  to  see 
whether  there  is  a  distant  cloud  of  dust  —  the  sign  of  an  immi- 
grant train  ;  all  interest  is  lost  in  deer,  antelopes,  wild  turkeys, 
or  bears  :  they  talk  of  Zunis  only  —  of  what  presents  they  shall 
take,  what  articles  of  barter,  what  presents  they  probably  will 
get  in  return,  etc.  A  list  of  the  articles  desired  is  talked  over 
until  it  is  impossible  to  forget  it.  An  Apache,  however,  never 
forgets  what  his  wife,  or  sister,  or  sweetheart,  and  especially  his 
mother,  tells  him  to  do.  He  first  remembers  and  obeys  the 
latter. 

There  is  no  duty  more  binding  on  the  Apache  warrior,  or  more 
willingly  performed,  than  that  of  pleasing  and  providing  for  his 
mother.  The  longest  life  does  not  release  him  from  the  duty  of 
obedience  and  respect  to  her.  For  her  all  else  must  give  place ; 
she  takes  the  precedence  of  all  other  relations ;  her  wants  are 
paramount  to  those  of  self,  or  wife,  or  child.  If  she  commands 
it,  even  an  enemy  is  spared  for  the  time,  though  when  she  is  out 
of  sight  vengeance  again  takes  its  course.  These  bloody  and  re- 
morseless savages  possess  singular  virtues,  in  contrast  with  their 
extreme  cruelties. 

At  length,  the  long-looked-for  morning  of  departure  arrives. 
The  day  has  hardly  dawned  before  the  encampment  is  all  awake, 
and  out  of  its  lodges.  Old  and  young,  women  and  children,  are 
standing  around,  and  all  talking.  The  children  are  playing  all 
sorts  of  pranks,  to  catch  the  last  glance  of  the  departing  braves  : 
they  run  foot-races,  play  leap-frog,  stand  on  their  heads.  All  is 
mirth  and  hilarity.  All  prophesy  success  and  a  speedy  return. 
They  supply  themselves  with  an  abundance  of  the  choicest  pro- 


A  RIDE  WITH  THE  APACHES.  45 

visions,  such  as  dried  meats,  wheaten  bread,  and  sweet-cakes 
made  of  flour  and  sugar.  The  wheat  is  of  their  own  raising,  as 
they  often  grow  large  crops  in  various  places  remote  from  their 
dwellings ;  and  it  is  ground  into  flour  by  their  women,  in  the 
same  mode  used  by  the  Mexicans.  They  carry,  on  this  journey, 
no  water  or  beverage,  but  only  gourd-cups  to  drink  from ;  also, 
no  one  accompanies  them  a  part  of  the  way  and  then  comes  back, 
as  in  their  hunting  and  marauding  expeditions.  They  take  extra 
horses  for  presents  to  their  Zuni  friends,  and  others  for  barter. 
They  also  take  with  them  presents  and  goods  for  exchange : 
Mexican  saddles  and  bridles,  finely  wrought  lomillos  (lomillo,  is  the 
crouper-cloth  or  bear-skin  attached  to  the  saddle  behind),  lariatas 
of  excellent  make,  and  splendid  serapes  Sultilleros  —  a  kind  of 
blanket,  in  which  are  interwoven  gold  and  silver  threads,  so  fine 
and  soft  that  one  can  be  put  in  the  coat-pocket.  These  serapes 
are  made  in  the  city  of  Saltillo,  Mexico,  and  bought  or  stolen  by 
the  Apaches  in  their  forays. 

They  also  take  with  them  fine  swords  and  curiously  wrought 
javelins  and  daggers,  which  have  been  stolen  from  Mexico,  or 
stripped  from  travelers.  In  short,  all  curious  or  remarkable 
things,  for  which  they  have  no  use  themselves,  they  carry  to  their 
aesthetic  friends,  the  Zuriis,  who  have  boundless  tastes  for  articles 
of  luxury  and  ornamentation.  Finally,  having  applied  the  last 
touches  of  paint  to  their  faces,  until  they  are  so  masked  that  their 
friends  will  hardly  recognize  them,  the  journey  begins ;  first  at 
a  gallop,  amid  shouts  and  cheers,  and,  after  they  are  out  of  sight, 
slackening  to  a  slow  pace,  and  making  the  pilgrimage  in  an  easy, 
leisurely  manner,  resting  at  every  spot  where  there  is  good  grass 
for  their  horses. 

The  distance  from  the  place  occupied  by  the  Apaches  to  the 
Zuni  villages  is  about  three  hundred  miles,  over  a  country  di- 
versified with  mountains,  low  hills,  broad  valleys,  and  some  desert 
spots.  One  comes  suddenly  upon  an  island  of  trees,  in  the  midst 
of  a  plain  or  valley  verdant  with  waving  grass.  Again,  a  narrow 
belt  of  cotton-wood  and  willows,  winding  along  for  miles,  indicates 
the  place  of  a  water-course,  which,  however,  contains  running 
water  only  during  the  rainy  months  of  the  year.  A  tuft  of  green 


46  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

willows  and  rushes,  intermingled  with  flowering  grasses,  marks 
the  site  of  a  spring  low  down  on  the  mountain  side.  Around 
these  verdant  places  the  painted  savages  gather,  and  while  one 
runs  to  the  nearest  eminence  to  keep  a  lookout  against  a  surprise 
from  some  lurking  foe,  the  others  tether  their  horses  in  the  grass, 
and  then  throw  themselves  on  the  ground  for  a  moment's  sleep. 
The  more  restless  young  men  practice  shooting  arrows  at  small 
game,  or  engage  in  a  game  of  cards  with  a  well-worn  pack,  saved 
from  the  sack  of  an  immigrant's  haggage,  or  purchased  in  the 
town  of  Chihuahua.  In  this  manner  the  five  or  six  days'  journey 
is  passed.  When  within  a  few  miles  of  the  Zuni  villages,  a  final 
halt  is  made.  The  horses  are  fed  and  rubbed ;  the  gallants  paint 
themselves  anew ;  packs  are  seen  to ;  presents  are  talked  over 
and  arranged  in  the  most  attractive  manner.  Now  comes  the 
full-dress  charge  of  this  barbaric  cavalcade.  Their  long,  plaited 
hair  streaming  in  the  wind  as  they  gallop  in  full  career  toward 
the  entrance  to  the  Zuni  towns ;  their  plumes  and  gay-colored 
serapes,  jingling  spurs,  and  the  gaudy  trappings  of  their  glistening 
steeds,  with  the  crowds  of  Zunis  running  to  meet  them,  and 
shouting  their  welcome  after  an  absence  of  a  year ;  the  lofty 
mountains  of  the  Sierra  Madre  in  the  near  distance ;  the  quaint, 
immemorial  architecture  of  the  Zuni  buildings,  and  their  strange 
occupants  —  sole  remnant  of  the  ancient  races  who  lived  in  the 
golden  age  of  centuries  past  —  all  unite  in  making  a  panorama, 
which  for  natural,  scenic  splendor  is  rarely  surpassed. 

The  Apaches  now  dismount,  and  mingle  with  their  hereditary 
friends  —  friends  with  whom,  for  a  thousand  years,  they  have 
never  broken  faith ;  and  who,  in  their  turn,  through  the  ages 
have  been  friendly  with  the  Apaches.  Their  language  being  the 
same,  differing  only  in  accent,  intonation,  and  cadence,  they  un- 
derstand each  other  without  difficulty.  The  Zuni,  or  Apache, 
language  is  very  flexible  and  suave,  and  may  at  some  time  have 
been  the  court  language  of  the  ancient  races.  It  is  often  as  ex- 
pressive of  fine  shades  of  distinction  as  even  the  Greek  itself. 
It  preserves  —  in  the  adyta  of  its  wonderful  radicals  —  the  tradi- 
tional duality  of  the  human  race  :  its  dual,  as  well  as  singular 
and  plural,  forms  of  speech. 


A  RIDE  WITH  THE  APACHES.  47 

Groups  of  Apaches  and  Zunis  may  now  be  seen  in  different 
places  in  front  of  the  houses,  and  in  the  public  places  under  the 
trees.  Meat  is  brought,  and  bread  with  wild  fruits  is  spread  in 
profusion  before  the  hungry  guests.  The  children  gather  round 
to  see  the  painted  strangers,  and  the  beautiful  horses,  with  their 
gaudy  trappings.  After  the  eating,  which  is  always  in  the  morn- 
ing (that  being  the  time  the  Apaches  select  for  entering  the 
Zuni  city),  the  packs  are  opened  and  presents  distributed  with 
grave  solemnity  to  the  principal  men  of  the  city ;  for  the  Zunis 
have  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor.  They  have  judges  and  justices 
of  the  peace,  as  well  as  a  sort  of  high-court  of  appeal,  in  which 
all  questions  of  equity  are  settled ;  they  have  also  policemen  and 
officers  like  our  constables,  to  arrest  offenders  and  bring  them 
before  the  judges.  To  these  men  of  influence  presents  are  given, 
without  any  definite  expectation  of  an  equivalent.  If  the  Zunis 
give  presents  in  return,  it  is  well ;  if  not,  the  Apaches  are  equally 
well  satisfied.  If  the  Zuni  presents  are  more  or  less  in  value,  it 
is  all  the  same :  no  questions  are  asked,  no  remarks  made  either 
to  their  friends  or  to  each  other. 

Next  comes  the  trading.  This  is  carried  on  with  much  spirit, 
and  with  mutual  concessions.  When  it  is  over,  both  parties  are 
satisfied  :  they  never  accuse  each  other  of  cheating  or  attempting 
to  cheat,  and  there  is  no  manifestation  of  anger  on  either  side. 
It  is  not  uncommon  for  them  to  decide  a  question  of  value  by  a 
wager.  The  Apache  and  the  Zuni  agree  that  the  one  who  can 
run  and  jump  a  longer  distance  at  a  single  leap,  shall  have  the 
price  he  has  asked.  In  such  wagers  the  Apache  is  almost  always 
the  winner,  owing  to  his  greater  agility  from  long  training,  as 
well  as  from  the  difference  in  modes  of  life. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  an  Apache  becomes  stricken  with 
one  of  the  Zuni  beauties.  In  that  case,  if  the  woman  is  unmarried, 
unengaged,  and  willing  to  marry  him,  the  arrangement  of  details 
with  the  Zuni  chiefs  is  not  impossible.  The  Apache  names  the 
number  of  horses,  or  the  amount  and  kind  of  other  goods,  he 
will  give  for  the  damsel ;  and,  if  the  patriarchs  are  willing,  she 
returns  with  her  husband.  If  it  should  afterward  happen  that 
she  is  treated  cruelly,  or  that  he  neglects  her,  then  by  the  terms 


48  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

of  the  contract  she  is  free,  and  may  return  unmolested  to  the 
home  of  her  ancestors,  who  receive  her  back  with  tenderness  and 
love.  It  is,  however,  very  rare  that  a  woman  ever  leaves  her 
Apache  husband.  Even  Mexican  female  prisoners,  who  have 
become  wives  and  mothers,  would  not  accept  of  liberty,  were  it 
offered  to  them.  Jose  Mendivil,  who  narrates  these  things,  says 
that  he  has  seen  many  of  them  refuse  to  escape  when  it  was  per- 
fectly easy.  He  has  known  them,  while  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Mexican  towns,  when  all  the  Indians  were  away  hunting,  to  re- 
fuse to  walk  into  the  towns  and  ask  protection,  preferring  the 
life  of  a  savage  to  the  affection  and  affluence  of  the  homes  of 
their  girlhood. 

When  at  length  the  trading,  feasting,  and  perhaps  love-making 
are  ended ;  when  the  sports  and  story-telling  are  finished,  then 
the  Indians  begin  to  prepare  for  their  return  to  their  mountain 
fastnesses.  In  an  instant,  all  is  haste  and  enthusiasm.  Like 
children,  hurrying  and  talking  of  their  return,  they  immediately 
forget  every  thing  but  their  families  waiting  for  them  hundreds 
of  miles  away.  Slowly  and  cautiously  they  had  made  the  out- 
ward journey,  so  as  not  to  weary  their  horses,  in  order  that  they 
might  be  fresh  and  fleet,  to  excite  the  admiration  of  the  Zunis. 
But  now,  even  the  horses  seem  to  know  that  they  are  expected 
to  go  like  the  wind  on  the  return  career.  The  Apaches  being 
mounted,  a  score  or  more  of  young  Zunis,  on  their  fleetest  horses, 
escort  their  friends  out  of  the  great  gate  of  their  walled  town, 
and  also  many  miles  on  their  homeward  way.  Not  unfrequently 
horses  are  exchanged,  in  token  of  friendship,  in  the  last  moments 
of  parting ;  but  the  generous  Zuni  will  never  exchange  unless  he 
is  quite  certain  his  horse  has  more  speed  and  bottom  than  the 
other,  lest  his  friend  should  fall  behind  in  that  terrible  homeward 
race. 

This  race  soon  begins  in  earnest.  There  is  no  more  quarter 
for  horse  or  rider  ;  the  three  hundred  miles  must  be  made  in  two 
days  and  nights.  On  dash  the  cavalcade,  each  far  from  the  other, 
the  wild  horses  snuffing  the  clear  air  of  the  mountains ;  on  — 
on  —  swifter  and  swifter,  increasing  their  speed  constantly.  The 
ruins  of  Aztec  cities  and  fields  seem  to  fly  past  like  clouds  driven 


A  RIDE  WITH  THE  APACHES.  49 

by  the  blast.  There  are  deserts  of  sand  and  salt,  along  the  green 
margin  of  which  these  demon- steeds  sweep  with  the  clatter  and 
noise  of  a  thousand  charging  horses.  The  lips  of  the  Apache 
are  firm-set ;  his  limbs  almost  encircle  his  horse ;  he  leans  forward 
nearly  to  his  neck ;  his  hair  streams  out,  like  a  sheet  of  darkness, 
above  his  painted,  swelling  shoulders.  The  eyes  of  rider  and 
horse  are  like  fire,  and  their  mouths  dry  as  ashes ;  but  no  water 
is  allowed  to  wet  their  lips  until  more  than  a  hundred  miles  have 
been  passed  over  at  this  terrible  speed.  Herds  of  antelopes  see 
the  demon-chase,  snuff  the  air,  turn  to  run,  wheel  and  gaze  again, 
while  the  whole  band  of  savages  have  passed  like  meteors  out  of 
sight  down  some  precipitous  wall  of  rocks.  In  a  moment  their 
tossing  manes  and  streaming  masses  of  black  braids  are  seen 
waving,  still  at  a  gallop,  as  they  mount  up  the  opposite  cliffs  and 
along  the  crest  of  the  mountain  summit,  that  seems  a  dark  line 
drawn  against  the  morning  sky.  A  yell  and  a  wild  shout,  and 
down  they  go  into  the  depths  ^of  the  forest,  whose  dim  paths  only 
they  and  the  wild  beasts  have  ever  known.  Streams  are  passed 
like  dry  land,  even  while  the  horse  and  rider  are  famishing 
with  thirst :  they  dare  not  stop  and  taste,  lest  their  terrible  en- 
ergy for  one  moment  should  diminish.  On  —  on  —  thunder  these 
weird  wanderers,  looking  not  to  right  nor  to  left,  but  ever  onward 
toward  the  turrets  and  domes  of  those  distant  mountains,  in 
whose  shaded  vales  their  swarthy  wives  and  kindred  are  watching 
for  their  return. 

And  now  the  savages  take  a  few  hours  of  sleep  while  their 
horses  are  grazing ;  again  they  mount,  and  for  a  few  leagues  ride 
slowly  ;  then  is  heard  a  yell  and  a  scream  that  echo  among  the 
hills,  and  away  they  dash  in  full  career.  The  pebbles  and  stones 
fly  behind  them,  the  plains  sweep  round  them  as  the  horizon 
around  a  flying  train,  and  the  mountains  echo  with  their  screams. 
Their  horses  are  spotted  with  foam,  like  waves  in  a  storm  ;  their 
nostrils  are  wide  and  red  as  blood  :  if  they  should  halt  now,  they 
could  never  start  again.  One  more  hill,  and  one  more  plain,  and 
the  curling  smoke  of  their  lodge-fires  will  be  seen  against  the 
distant  sky.  But  what  is  that  thick  cloud  of  dust  coming  directly 
toward  them  ?  Higher  and  higher  it  rises  :  now  the  line  of  horse- 
5 


50  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

men  can  be  seen,  rising  and  falling  like  a  far-off  bark  on  the 
waves ;  nearer  the  coming  horsemen  speed,  but  the  home-bound 
Apaches  stop  not,  nor  turn  to  right  or  left :  they  ride,  as  if  to  the 
charge,  right  into  the  faces  of  the  approaching  band.  They  had 
seen  and  recognized  each  other  long  ago ;  their  keen  vision  dis- 
cerned the  riders  as  friends  when  first  they  rose,  a  faint  black 
line,  on  the  horizon.  They,  too,  are  Apaches  from  the  camp, 
mounted  on  fresh  horses,  and  come  to  meet  their  friends  for  fifty 
miles,  well  knowing  their  reckless  speed,  and  that  their  horses 
will  drop  dead  if  not  exchanged  at  the  end  of  the  race.  All  cast 
themselves  from  their  panting  steeds,  as  if  by  word  of  command  ; 
and  sooner  than  it  can  be  told,  horses  are  exchanged,  the  tired 
ones  released  from  their  loads  and  driven  at  speed  in  advance, 
while  on  they  go  toward  the  distant  smoke  in  the  aisles  of  the 
hills.  At  last  appear  the  well-known  paths ;  and  now  old  men, 
women,  and  children  are  seen  grouped  among  the  lodges  of  the 
tribe.  The  braves  dash  wildly  in,,  and  leaping  to  the  ground, 
stretch  themselves  upon  the  sward.  Their  horses  are  unladen 
by  willing  hands,  meat  is  brought  to  the  famishing  men,  and 
water  is  offered.  Then  the  whole  story  of  the  journey  is  told. 
They  boast  their  own  superiority  over  the  Zunis  in  all  athletic 
games,  in  the  speed  of  their  horses,  and  the  utility  of  their  women 
for  getting  food  and  cultivating  the  fields.  This  pleases  their 
women,  and,  if  no  husband  has  returned  with  a  Zuni  wife,  all 
are  happy. 

The  presents  —  of  inestimable  value  to  the  Indians  —  are  dis- 
tributed as  impartially  as  possible.  Soon  may  be  seen  Apache 
women  clad  in  the  shell  trinkets  and  the  gaudy  sashes  of  the 
Zunis.  Savages  walk  proudly  folded  in  the  splendidly  colored 
blankets  of  the  friendly  dwellers  in  the  walled  towns,  although 
but  Indians  like  themselves.  Thus  a  day  or  two  is  passed,  and 
then  all  return  to  the  usual  routine  of  hunting,  eating,  starving, 
feasting,  stealing,  and  passing  life  away  in  savage  indifference. 


THE  CAPTIVITY  OF  CHRISTIAN  FASTS 
BY  GEO.  W.  HILL,  M.D. 

IN  the  month  of  June,  1780,  an  expedition  composed  of  Indians 
and  Canadians,  destined  to  invade  Kentucky,  moved  from  their 
places  of  rendezvous  at  Detroit,  the  Sandusky,  the  Miami  and 
the  Wabash.  The  salient  point  of  the  campaign  was  the  falls  of 
the  Ohio,  or  Louisville,  then  containing  only  a  few  cabins,  and 
a  station  for  soldiers  to  protect  the  scattered  settlements  of  Ken- 
tucky against  Indian  invasion. 

Col.  George  Rogers  Clark,  the  hero  of  Kaskaskia  and  St.  Vin- 
cent, learning  that  the  British  and  Indians  were  about  to  invade 
that  region,  stationed  a  small  body  of  troops  at  the  village  of 
Louisville,  to  intercept  the  passage  of  war  parties  on  their  way 
to  the  interior  of  Kentucky.  His  command  was  soon  increased 
by  the  arrival  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  Pennsylvanians  and  Vir- 
ginians under  the  command  of  Col.  Slaughter. 

For  reasons  never  fully  explained,  the  British  expedition  com- 
manded by  Col.  Byrd,  on  reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami, 
changed  its  destination ;  and  when  the  boats  conveying  his  troops, 
cannon  and  military  stores  arrived  on  the  Ohio  river,  instead  of 
descending  its  rapid  current,  turned  up  the  stream,  and  ascended 
the  Licking  to  its  forks,  where  he  landed  his  men  and  munitions 
of  war.  It  is  probable  the  destination  of  Col.  Byrd  was  changed 
in  consequence  of  his  advanced  Indian  spies  and  scouts  coming 
in  contact  with  the  forces  of  Col.  Slaughter  in  their  descent  of 
the  Ohio. 

Some  thirty-five  or  forty  miles  above  the  falls,  the  boats  of 
Col.  Slaughter,  which  were  conveying  horses  and  a  few  soldiers, 
became  separated  from  the  main  body  of  the  expedition  in  the 
night.  At  day-light  the  advanced  boats  drove  an  occasional  stake 
near  the  shore,  and  attached  written  directions  thereto,  to  guide 
the  boats  in  the  rear.  The  boats  thus  abandoned,  being  deprived 

'Reprinted  from  the  Ashland  (0.)  Press,  for  November  26, 1874. 


52  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

of  proper  rations  for  the  soldiers,  had  no  alternative  but  to  sup- 
ply themselves  with  such  game  as  could  be  obtained  from  the 
forest.  Perceiving  a  buffalo  heifer  leisurely  feeding  a  short 
distance  from  shore,  the  larger  boat  was  shoved  to  a  shoal  and 
the  heifer  shot.  It  was  hastily  skinned,  a  fire  was  built,  and  the 
soldiers  proceeded  to  prepare  breakfast.  While  in  the  act  of 
cooking  the  flesh  of  the  heifer,  the  party  was  attacked  by  Indians, 
who  were  probably  drawn  to  the  spot  by  the  sound  of  the  guns. 
The  frightened  soldiers,  who  had  neglected  to  station  pickets, 
fled  to  the  boat  which  had  been  stranded  on  the  shoal,  just  as 
the  smaller  boats  were  making  toward  the  shore  for  breakfast. 
They  were  unable  to  shove  the  boat  to  the  current,  and  the  In- 
dians rushed  down  the  shore  firing  into  the  boat,  wounding  and 
killing  several  of  the  men  and  horses.  All  was  consternation. 
Many  of  the  soldiers  endeavored  to  save  themselves  by  leaping 
overboard  and  attempting  to  swim  to  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river ;  but  on  reaching  it,  were  again  fired  upon. 

Among  those  who  fled  to  the  opposite  shore  was  Christian 
Fast,  a  youth  of  about  seventeen  years  of  age,  who  had  volun- 
teered as  a  cavalry-man,  from  what  is  now  Fayette  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, then  a  part  of  Westmoreland  county.  Young  Fast 
was  an  expert  swimmer.  As  the  Indians  rushed  upon  the  men, 
he  leaped  over  the  opposite  side  of  the  horse-boat,  and  struck  out 
boldly  for  the  Kentucky  shore,  which  he  reached  in  safety.  Just 
as  he  was  about  to  rise  from  the  water  and  ascend  the  bank,  two 
or  three  Indians  approached  him  saying :  "  Come  on,  brother, 
we  will  use  you  well,"  at  the  same  time  reaching  out  their  hands 
in  token  of  friendship. 

Knowing  the  savage  character  of  the  red  man,  he  doubted  their 
pacific  intentions;  and  speedily  turning  about,  started  for  the 
middle  of  the  river.  He  had  scarcely  got  in  motion,  when  they 
commenced  to  fire  after  him,  a  ball  passing  so  near  his  head  that 
it  stunned  him  by  its  concussion  in  the  water,  for  a  moment, 
while  another  ball  passed  through  the  fleshy  part  of  his  thigh, 
making  a  painful  wound,  notwithstanding  which,  he  succeeded 
in  reaching  the  centre  of  the  river.  The  boats  having  floated 
some  distance  below  the  stranded  one  from  which  he  had  fled, 


THE  CAPTIVITY  OP  CHRISTIAN  FAST.  53 

he  resolved  to  swim  after  and  overtake  a  small  horse  boat  which 
was  a  few  rods  in  the  rear  of  the  rest.  After  a  vigorous  exertion, 
aided  hy  the  current,  and  a  shower  of  bullets  from  shore,  he 
reached  the  boat  just  as  it  surrendered.  The  Indians  boarded  it 
at  once ;  and  the  prisoners  were  taken  on  shore,  and  the  plunder 
secured. 

After  the  prisoners  had  been  deprived  of  all  means  of  defense, 
the  savages  next  proceeded  to  strip  them  of  such  wearing  ap- 
parel as  they  desired.  In  fact,  the  majority  of  the  captives  were 
left  almost  nude.  The  military  suits  with  which  the  soldiers 
were  clothed  were  deemed  a  God-send  to  these  children  of  the 
forest.  The  appearance  of  the  captives  was  most  distressing ; 
nevertheless  resistance  would  have  been  rewarded  with  a  cruel, 
lingering  death  by  torture.  When  the  exulting  savages  had  se- 
cured such  plunder  as  they  could  carry  away,  it  was  put  up  in 
bundles,  and  their  new  prisoners  were  compelled  to  pack  it.  The 
whole  party  proceeded  on  their  way  through  the  forest  in  the 
direction  of  Upper  Sandusky.  The  level  lands  along  the  Ohio 
and  the  Miami,  at  that  season,  abounded  in  rank,  almost  impene- 
trable weeds,  briars  and  nettles.  The  journey  was  a  severe  ordeal. 

Fast  was  small,  had  hair  as  black  as  a  raven,  dark  eyes,  and  a 
swarthy  skin;  was  exceedingly  agile,  and  very  slim  and  straight. 
His  appearance  pleased  the  Indians ;  and  an  old  Delaware  warrior 
claimed  him  as  his  prisoner.  The  leader  of  the  band  was  old 
Thomas  Lyon.  On  the  route  to  Upper  Sandusky,  which  was 
principally  up  the  Great  Miami  until  they  reached  the  portage, 
the  poor  prisoners  endured  many  hardships  and  cruelties.  Having 
been  deprived  of  their  clothing,  the  nettles,  briars,  weeds  and 
undergrowth  made  fearful  havoc  with  their  uncovered  bodies,  so 
much  so,  that  on  one  occasion,  after  they  had  been  some  hours 
in  the  forest,  young  Fast  put  down  his  head  and  refused  to  pro- 
ceed, telling  his  Indian  master  to  tomahawk  him!  The  old 
warrior  took  pity  on  him  and  returned  most  of  his  clothing.  His 
wound  was  becoming  quite  painful.  The  old  warrior  assisted  in 
dressing  it  until  it  healed. 

After  the  war  party  had  been  two  or  three  days  in  the  forest, 
the  Indians  built  a  camp-fire  and  cleared  a  spot  for  a  dance.  The 


54  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

prisoners  were  all  tied  so  as  to  prevent  their  escape.  The  savages 
engaged  in  the  dance  with  much  spirit,  singing,  hopping,  leaping, 
brandishing  their  tomahawks  and  scalping  knives,  and  grimacing 
in  a  most  frightful  manner.  Their  music  was  a  sort  of  wail,  be- 
tween a  shout  and  a  moan,  while  a  kind  of  time  was  beaten  on  a 
brass  kettle  by  a  warrior.  When  the  Indian  dance  had  ended, 
the  prisoners,  one  by  one,  were  untied  and  requested  to  give  an 
exhibition  of  their  agility.  With  bodies  torn  and  bruised,  half 
famished  for  want  of  food,  wearied  with  the  journey,  and  almost 
nude,  they  endeavored  to  comply,  knowing  that  a  refusal  would 
incur  the  hate  and  severity  of  their  savage  masters.  When  the 
time  came  for  Fast  to  dance,  he  felt  it  impossible  to  do  so,  in 
consequence  of  his  painful  wound ;  but  fearing  to  incur  the  cen- 
sure and  vengeance  of  the  warriors,  he  said  to  his  comrades : 
"  Boys,  I  can't  dance  and  run  on  my  feet,  but  I  can  run  on  my 
hands."  So,  limping  into  the  ring,  when  the  Indian  music  began, 
he  proceeded  a  few  steps,  and  then  springing  upon  his  hands,  he 
elevated  his  feet,  and  commenced  a  sort  of  bear  dance,  accom- 
panied by  sundry  singular  maneuvres  on  his  hands,  turning  an 
occasional  somersault,  and  yelling  like  an  Indian! 

At  first  the  savages  seemed  amazed  at  his  performances,  but 
soon  began  to  applaud  by  the  most  uproarious  laughter  and 
shouts,  some  of  them  actually  rolling  on  the  ground  in  their 
merriment.  After  he  had  passed  around  the  ring  in  this  gym- 
nastic manner,  several  of  the  warriors  who  had  been  most 
delighted  with  his  antics,  put  their  hands  on  the  ground  and 
desired  him  to  "  do  so  more."  He  pointed  to  his  wound  and 
refused,  saying,  he  was  "too  lame."  His  singular  vivacity  and 
good  nature  captivated  the  Indians,  and  from  that  time  on,  he 
was  the  hero  of  the  party ;  and  was  no  longer  tied  at  night. 

On  reaching  the  Shawnee  towns  on  the  Great  Miami,  the 
prisoners  were  compelled  to  run  the  gauntlet  for  the  amusement 
of  the  old  Shawnees,  the  squaws  and  youth.  Several  of  the 
prisoners  were  severely  beaten.  A  man  by  the  name  of  Baker, 
a  silversmith  by  trade,  from  Westmoreland  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, was  beaten  almost  to  death.  In  his  desperation,  he  ran 
past  the  council-house  two  or  three  times,  being  blinded  by  the 


THE  CAPTIVITY  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAST.  55 

blows  and  fright,  and  was  about  to  sink,  when  a  friendly  voice 
directed  him  to  enter  the  door.  He  did  so  and  was  spared. 
While  this  performance  was  going  on,  the  old  warrior  who  had 
Fast  in  charge,  shoved  him  back  among  the  Indians,  and  he  did 
not  have  to  undergo  the  punishment  of  the  gauntlet. 

When  the  party  arrived  at  Upper  Sandusky,  the  prisoners 
were  again  compelled  to  undergo  the  ordeal  of  running  the 
gauntlet.  They  were  all  handled  very  severely ;  but  none  of 
them  were  killed.  Fast  was  again  excused  from  the  gauntlet  by 
his  Indian  master.  His  wound  by  this  time  had  nearly  healed. 
The  surviving  prisoners  soon  recruited  from  their  fatigue  and 
were  exchanged  at  Pittsburg  and  on  the  Muskingum. 

Fast  was  retained  and  adopted  into  an  old  Delaware  family  in 
lieu  of  a  son  who  had  lost  his  life  in  a  border  skirmish*  His  hair 
was  plucked  out  in  the  usual  manner,  leaving  a  small  scalp-lock 
about  the  crown  —  his  white  blood  was  all  washed  away  —  his 
ears  and  the  cartilage  of  his  nose  perforated  and  brooches  placed 
therein.  After  this  he  was  dressed  in  Indian  costume,  his  hair 
roached  up  and  filled  with  feathers  of  gaudy  colors.  Being  taken 
to  the  council  house  he  was  regularly  indoctrinated  as  a  son  of 
the  tribe.  He  received  the  name  of  Mo-lun-the,  and  was  taken 
to  the  cabin  or  wigwam  of  his  new  parents.  Fast  resided  on  the 
banks  of  the  Tymochtee  about  two  years.  He  was  treated  very 
kindly  by  his  Indian  mother.  He  had  an  Indian  brother  by  the 
name  of  Ke-was-sa,  to  whom  he  became  much  attached.  They 
often  hunted  coon  and  other  game. 

On  one  occasion,  Kewassa  invited  Fast  to  accompany  him  to 
hunt  bear.  After  traveling  some  distance  in  the  forest,  they 
discovered  evidences  of  the  ascent  of  a  bear  up  a  large  elm,  which 
was  hollow  near  the  top.  After  trying  sometime  in  vain  to  rouse 
the  bear  from  its  retreat,  it  was  proposed  that  a  tree,  which  stood 
at  a  proper  distance  from  the  elm,  should  be  felled  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  lean  against  the  elm  to  enable  Fast  to  climb  to  the 
hole  and  smoke  Bruin  out  with  punk  and  rotten  wood.  The  tree 
was  cut,  and  fell  against  the  elm.  Fast,  being  expert  in  climbing, 
ascended  it  to  the  proposed  point,  and  commenced  operations 
with  a  view  of  smoking  Bruin  into  a  surrender.  Kewassa  placed 


56  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

himself  in  a  position,  gun  in  hand,  where  he  could  welcome  the 
bear  on  its  appearance  to  a  smell  of  powder.  Fast  lighted  the 
dry  tinder  and  threw  it  into  the  hole ;  but  Bruin  failed  to  make 
his  appearance !  While  engaged  in  this  fruitless  enterprise,  a 
strong  breeze  struck  the  leaning  tree  and  it  fell  to  the  ground  ! 
Here  was  a  dilemma.  Fast  was  some  forty  feet  from  the  ground 
on  a  large  elm  !  He  could  not  grasp  his  arms  about  it,  so  as  to 
safely  descend.  Kewassa  was  alarmed  for  his  safety.  There 
could  be  no  help ;  for  the  only  tree  in  the  vicinity  had  been  cut. 
After  gazing  at  Fast  for  some  time,  without  being  able  to  offer 
assistance,  he  hastened  to  the  camp  several  miles  away,  expecting 
that  his  new  brother  would  be  dashed  to  pieces.  Taking  in  the 
situation  at  a  glance,  Fast  concluded  that  he  only  hazarded  his 
life  by  remaining  where  he  was ;  and  the  attempt  to  descend 
could  result  in  nothing  more  than  death,  but  might  terminate  in 
safety.  Summoning  all  his  strength,  he  grasped  the  rough  bark 
with  his  hands,  at  the  same  time  making  good  use  of  his  feet  and 
legs,  and  commenced  the  descent,  moving  cautiously  until  he 
came  within  fifteen  or  eighteen  feet  of  the  ground,  when  his 
strength  so  far  failed  him,  that  he  was  compelled  to  relax  his 
grip  and  slid  down  mangling  his  hands,  the  inside  of  his  arms 
and  legs  badly.  On  reaching  the  ground,  he  was  considerably 
stunned,  but  soon  revived  and  started  for  the  camp,  where  he 
arrived  amidst  the  grief  of  his  Indian  mother  and  brother,  who 
had  given  him  up  as  lost. 

On  one  occasion,  after  he  had  been  a  captive  over  a  year,  when 
all  the  warriors  were  absent  from  the  village,  his  Indian  mother 
having  also  left  the  camp  for  a  short  time,  he  became  very  me- 
lancholy. Thoughts  of  home  stole  upon  him.  He  left  the  wig- 
wam and  proceeded  a  short  distance  into  the  forest,  and  seating 
himself  upon  a  log,  soon  became  absorbed  in  meditation.  While 
thus  musing,  he  was  interrupted  by  a  stranger  who  suddenly 
appeared  and  confronted  him.  Discovering  his  embarrassment 
and  dejection,  the  stranger  said  in  the  Delaware  language  : 
"  Ah  young  man  what  are  you  thinking  about  ?  " 
Fast.  "  I  am  alone,  and  have  no  company,  and  feel  very 
lonesome." 


THE  CAPTIVITY  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAST.  57 

Stranger.  "  That  is  not  it,  you  are  thinking  of  home.  Be  a 
good  boy  and  you  shall  see  your  home  again." 

After  some  further  conversation,  he  learned  that  the  stranger 
was  none  other  than  that  terror  of  the  pioneers,  the  renegade, 
Simon  Girty !  Fast  afterward  became  well  acquainted  with  Girty, 
and  was  the  recipient  of  many  favors  at  his  hands.  In  fact,  Girty 's 
assurance  that  he  would  again  see  his  home  in  Pennsylvania, 
greatly  revived  his  drooping  spirits  and  led  him  to  believe  that 
Girty,  though  often  denounced  by  the  pioneers  as  a  villain,  a 
demon  in  human  shape,  was  not  destitute  of  sympathy  and  kind- 
ness, though  associating  with  the  fierce  red  men  of  the  northwest. 

During  the  campaign  of  Colonel  "William  Crawford,  which 
ended  so  disastrously,  Mr.  Fast  was  with  the  Delawares  on  the 
Tymochtee.  Capt.  Pipe  and  Wingemund,  leading  Delaware 
chiefs,  resided,  when  in  their  villages,  in  that  region  of  Ohio. 
After  the  rout  of  Crawford's  army,  when  the  colonel  was  brought 
back  a  prisoner,  Fast  was  present  and  saw  him.  He  was  in  hear- 
ing distance  when  the  Delawares  tortured  the  colonel,  and  could 
hear  his  groans.  He  was  so  much  aifected  that  he  left  the  spot 
in  company  with  his  Indian  brother  and  mother.  Fast,  in  his 
lifetime,  often  related  incidents  connected  with  the  unfortunate 
expedition  of  poor  Crawford.  As  they  have  been  repeated  by 
Dr.  Knight,  Slover  arid  Heckewelder,  it  is  unnecessary  to  narrate 
them  here. 

Shortly  after  the  execution  of  Crawford,  Fast  was  urged  to 
marry  a  young  squaw,  a  daughter  of  an  Indian  family  of  some 
distinction.  He  was  then  about  nineteen  years  of  age.  It  was 
a  question  of  much  delicacy,  and  required  a  good  deal  of  tact  to 
repel  the  proposal  in  such  manner  as  to  avoid  offense.  When 
the  subject  was  again  seriously  pressed  upon  his  attention,  he 
intimated  he  was  only  a  boy,  and  was  too  young  to  marry! 
The  Delawares  were  greatly  amused  at  his  modesty,  and  his  rea- 
son for  refusing.  He  added,  as  a  further  objection,  that  no  man 
should  marry  until  he  had  become  a  good  hunter,  and  could  pro- 
vide meat.  Not  being  the  owner  of  a  gun,  it  would  be  impossi- 
ble for  him  to  supply  the  quantity  of  game  required  for  food. 
Moreover,  he  thought  he  could  not  get  along  without  a  cow,  an 


58  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

essential  to  every  person  designing  to  marry.  As  soon  as  these 
could  be  procured  he  would  gladly  consent.  He  professed  much 
admiration  for  the  young  squaws,  and  intimated  he  could  easily 
select  u  wife  from  among  them,  if  his  terms  could  be  met.  It 
was  agreed  that  his  ideas  were  correct,  and  that  he  should  accom- 
pany the  first  expedition  to  the  settlements  along  the  Ohio,  and 
the  first  gun  captured  should  be  his,  and  on  returning  he  should 
be  permitted  to  bring  back  a  cow. 

In  August,  1782,  there  was  a  grand  council  at  Chilicothe,  on 
or  near  the  Great  Miami,  in  which  the  Wyandots,  Delawares, 
Ottawas,  Mingoes,  Shawnees,  Miamies  and  Pottawatomies  par- 
ticipated. Simon  Girty,  Elliott  and  McKee  were  present  and 
addressed  the  assembled  warriors.  The  council  resolved  to  raise 
two  armies,  one  of  six  hundred  men,  and  the  other  of  three  hund- 
red and  fifty,  the  larger  to  march  into  Kentucky,  and  the  smaller 
into  Western  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania.  By  the  last  of  August, 
the  greater  army  appeared  under  the  lead  of  Simon  Girty,  at 
Bryant's  Station  in  the  territory  of  Kentucky.  The  story  is 
narrated  in  all  the  histories  of  Kentucky. 

The  Indian  forces  destined  to  operate  against  the  border  settle- 
ments of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania,  delayed  their  march  until 
a  runner  brought  tidings  of  success  from  Kentucky.  Some  four 
hundred  fierce  warriors  assembled  on  the  Sandusky,  and  were 
armed  and  equipped  by  the  agents  of  the  British.  The  warriors 
were  dressed  and  painted  in  the  most  fantastic  manner,  their  hair 
being  gathered  in  a  sort  of  cue  and  drawn  through  a  tin  tube, 
was  ornamented  by  colored  hawk  or  eagle  quills.  With  scalping 
knives,  tomahawks  and  guns,  they  presented  a  formidable  appear- 
ance. For  many  days  and  nights  before  the  expedition  started, 
their  wild  orgies  echoed  through  the  forests.  Speeches,  dances 
and  the  like,  accompanied  by  threats  of  extermination  against  the 
white  race,  were  common.  Fast  was  painted  in  true  warrior 
style,  and  was  furnished  a  tomahawk,  scalping  knife  and  bow, 
and  told  he  might  accompany  the  expedition.  Before  departing? 
he  buried,  in  a  secure  place,  his  fancy  brooches  and  other  orna- 
ments of  silver,  so  that  if  he  ever  returned,  he  could  reclaim  them. 

The  expedition  passed  down  the  old  Wyandot  trail  through 


THE  CAPTIVITY  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAST.  59 

what  are  now  Crawford,  Richland  and  Ashland  counties,  Ohio, 
by  Mohican  —  Johnstown  ;  thence,  near  the  ruins  of  the  Moravian 
towns  on  the  Tuscarawas.  Arriving  at  that  point,  a  difference 
of  opinion  arose  as  to  the  exact  destination  of  the  expedition. 
After  some  consultation  in  council,  as  the  expedition  to  Kentucky 
was  proving  successful,  it  was  decided  that  the  Indian  army 
should  proceed  to  and  attack  the  small  fort  or  block  house  at 
what  is  'now  the  city  of  Wheeling,  West  Virginia.  On  the  ap- 
proach of  the  Indian  army,  the  expedition  was  discovered  by 
John  Lynn,  a  noted  spy  and  frontier  hunter,  who  was  scouting 
through  the  forests  and  watching  the  Indian  paths  west  of  the 
Ohio.  He  hastened  to  the  stockade  and  gave  the  alarm.  The 
stockade  had  no  regular  garrison,  and  had  to  be  defended  exclu- 
sively by  the  settlers  who  sought  security  within  its  walls.  On 
the  arrival  of  Lynn,  all  retired  within  the  stockade,  except  a 
family  of  Zanes ;  and  when  the  attack  began,  there  were  but 
about  twenty  efficient  men  to  oppose  nearly  four  hundred  savages 
led  on  by  James  Girty  ! 

The  Indian  army  soon  crossed  the  Ohio  river  and  approached 
the  stockade  waving  British  colors  !  An  immediate  surrender 
was  demanded.  Col.  Silas  Zane  responded  by  firing  at  the  flag 
borne  by  the  savages.  The  assault  commenced  by  the  Indians 
and  was  kept  up  briskly  for  three  days  and  nights,  but  each 
attack  was  successfully  repelled  by  the  little  garrison.  While 
the  men  within  were  constantly  engaged  in  firing  at  the  enemy, 
the  women  moulded  bullets,  loaded  and  handed  guns  to  the  men, 
and  by  this  means  every  assault  was  repulsed.  The  galling  fire 
poured  upon  the  savages  exasperated  them  to  madness.  In  the 
night  they  attempted  to  burn  Zane's  house,  from  which  they  had 
suffered  most ;  but  through  the  vigilance  of  Sam,  a  colored  man, 
their  intentions  were  thwarted. 

On  the  return  of  light  on  the  second  day,  the  savages,  after 
some  delay,  renewed  the  siege.  A  wooden  cannon  loaded  with 
balls  captured  from  a  small  boat  on  its  way  to  the  falls  of  the 
Ohio,  was  pointed  towards  the  stockade  and  amid  the  yells  of  the 
infuriated  Indians  discharged.  They  expected  to  see  a  section 
of  the  stockade  blown  to  splinters,  and  an  opening  for  the 


60  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

warriors  created.  It  exploded,  and  the  fragments  flew  in  every 
direction.  Several  of  the  warriors  were  wounded  and  a  number 
killed,  and  all  were  appalled  at  the  result.  Recovering  from 
their  dismay,  and  being  furious  from  disappointment,  they  again 
pressed  to  the  assault  with  renewed  energy.  They  were  as  often 
repelled  by  the  deadly  aim  of  the  little  garrison,  and  forced  to 
retire. 

The  achievements  of  Elizabeth  Zane,  on  this  occasion,  are 
matters  of  history,  and  too  well  known  to  require  repetition  in 
this  article. 

The  third  day  the  siege  was  renewed  with  terrible  ferocity ; 
but  every  attempt  to  storm  the  fort  was  successfully  resisted.  In 
the  afternoon,  despairing  of  success,  the  Indians  resolved  to 
change  their  programme.  About  one  hundred  warriors  re- 
mained to  annoy  the  stockade,  lay  waste  the  country,  and  scour 
the  neighboring  settlements.  The  balance  of  the  army  crossed 
the  Ohio,  and  made  a  feint  of  returning  to  Sandusky ;  but  the 
next  morning  recrossed  the  river  above  the  stockade,  and  divided 
into  two  parties,  and  hastened  towards  the  settlements  about 
Fort  Rice,  some  forty  miles  away,  in  what  is  now  Washington 
county,  Pennsylvania. 

On  the  third  night  of  the  siege,  learning  of  the  departure  of  a 
part  of  the  Indian  army  and  presuming  the  savages  were  about 
to  invade  his  old  home,  Fast  resolved,  if  possible,  to  effect  his 
escape.  Late  in  the  night,  while  reposing  beside  his  Indian 
brother  on  his  blanket,  on  the  ground,  the  memory  of  his  home 
and  dear  friends  came  fresh  to  his  recollection,  and  knowing  the 
whole  settlement  was  imperiled  by  the  approach  of  his  savage 
companions,  intent  on  revenge  and  blood,  he  could  not  sleep. 
Kawassa,  his  Indian  brother,  wearied  with  the  exertions  of  a 
three  days'  seige,  slept  soundly.  Knowing  the  nature  of  an  In- 
dian, when  profoundly  slumbering,  Fast  attempted  to  awaken  his 
brother,  stating  that  he  was  very  thirsty  and  desired  him  to  go 
with  him  to  the  river  for  water.  He  refused  to  rise,  telling  Mo- 
lunthe  to  wait  until  morning.  Permitting  his  brother  to  return 
to  his  state  of  stupor  for  some  time,  he  again  made  an  effort  to 
arouse  him,  insisting  that  he  could  not  wait,  but  must  have  water. 


THE  CAPTIVITY  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAST.  61 

The  Indian,  having  full  confidence  in  Fast,  told  him  to  go  him- 
self, as  no  one  would  harm  him.  He  was  but  too  happy  to  com- 
ply. Taking  a  small  copper  kettle,  he  hastened  to  the  river  bank 
find  placed  the  kettle  in  a  position  that  might  imply  that  he  had 
fallen  into  the  stream,  been  drowned  and  floated  down  the  current. 
Then  carefully  wending  his  way  through  the  Indian  lines,  he 
proceeded  across  the  hills  and  valleys  in  the  direction  of  Fort 
Rice,  on  Buffalo  creek,  some  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  from  his  old 
home.  He  groped  his  way  among  rocks,  down  declivities  and 
across  small  streams,  sometimes  falling  headlong  down  the  em- 
bankments, and  about  day-light,  became  exhausted  from  fatigue 
and  want  of  food,  and  was  compelled  to  seek  repose  at  the  base 
of  a  steep  bluff,  in  a  thicket  of  undergrowth  ;  and  while  resting 
there,  could  distinctly  hear  the  passing  warriors  conversing.  A 
short  distance  hence  the  trail  divided. 

Carefully  concealing  himself  until  all  the  warriors  passed,  he 
again  proceeded  in  the  direction  of  the  fort,  taking  a  ridge  mid- 
way between  the  trails.  By  a  vigorous  exertion  he  got  in  ad- 
vance of  the  savages,  and  when  within  about  two  miles  of  the 
fort,  he  discovered  a  white  man  approaching  with  a  bridle  and 
halter  in  his  hand.  Springing  behind  a  large  tree,  he  waited 
until  the  settler  arrived  within  a  few  feet  of  his  concealment, 
when  he  stepped  into  the  path  and  confronted  him.  The  white 
man  was  taken  by  surprise  and  trembled  with  fear,  and  was 
about  to  flee  for  life,  when  the  supposed  warrior  addressed  him 
in  English,  briefly  informing  him  who  he  was,  where  he  was 
going,  the  approach  of  the  warriors  and  the  danger  that  environed 
the  settlement.  Calmed  by  the  assurances  of  present  safety,  the 
white  man  caught  his  horses,  which  were  near,  and  he  and  Fast 
mounted  and  hastened  to  the  fort  and  spread  the  alarm,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  gathering  the  settlers,  in  the  vicinity,  into  it  before  the 
savages  appeared.  The  fort  consisted  of  a  strong  block-house, 
surrounded  by  several  cabins  of  the  settlers.  "When  all  the  men 
were  gathered  in  there  were  only  six. 

The  savages  approached  with  much  assurance,  and  offering  to 
spare  all  the  prisoners,  if  the  little  band  would  surrender.  Fast 
assured  the  inmates  that  the  cold  steel  of  the  tomahawk  would 


62  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

be  the  price  of  such  an  indiscretion.  Their  proffers  of  safety 
were  not  accepted.  A  fierce  assault  at  once  commenced.  The 
siege  was  kept  up  all  day  and  night ;  but  the  little  fort  held  out. 
Several  of  the  savages  were  wounded,  and  the  warriors,  finally 
despairing  of  success,  suddenly  withdrew  and  spread  among  the 
scattered  settlements  in  detached  parties,  burning  houses,  and 
shooting  cattle  and  hogs.  They  had  probably  learned  the  ap- 
proach of  Colonel  Swearinger  with  relief  for  Wheeling,  that  was 
yet  beleaguered  by  the  red  fiends. 

After  the  retirement  of  the  savages,  Fast  hastened  to  his  old 
home,  painted  and  dressed  as  an  Indian  warrior.  On  arriving 
at  the  cabin  of  his  parents  in  what  is  now  Fayette  county,  he 
so  nearly  resembled  a  wild  Indian  warrior  of  the  wilderness,  that 
his  parents  were  unable  to  distinguish  him.  Indeed,  they  were 
much  alarmed  at  his  presence,  fearing  he  was  a  genuine  savage 
acting  as  a  decoy.  He  attempted  to  calm  their  fears  by  assuring 
them,  in  their  ,own  tongue,  that  his  name  was  Fast,  and  that  he 
was  really  their  own  son  !  At  length  his  mother  recalling  some 
peculiarity  about  the  pupils  of  his  eyes,  and  some  spots  on  his 
breast,  recognized  him,  and  rushing  forward  to  embrace  him  in 
her  arms,  was  told  not  to  do  so,  as  he  was  covered  with  vermin 
from  the  Indian  camp.  The  tube  in  which  his  scalp-lock  was 
enclosed  was  removed,  and  he  repaired  to  an  out  building  where 
his  infected  garments  were  taken  off  and  burned.  Soap  and 
water  soon  removed  the  encrusted  paint  and  soil  from  his  person, 
when  he  was  presented  with  a  clean  suit  of  clothes,  which  re- 
stored him  to  his  status  as  a  white  man.  The  joy  of  his  parents 
on  his  safe  return  home,  scarcely  knew  bounds.  A  full  detail  of 
his  adventures  was  given,  and  often  repeated  to  enquiring  friends. 

On  arriving  at  manhood,  Mr.  Fast  located  in  Dunker  township, 
Greene  county,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  married,  and  remained 
until  the  spring  of  1815,  when  he  removed  with  his  family,  to 
what  is  now  Orange  township,  Ashland  county,  Ohio,  and  settled 
about  half  a  mile  south-east  of  the  Yermillion  lakes.  When  Mr. 
Fast  and  family  arrived  at  the  lakes,  he  found  a  number  of  In- 
dians encamped  near  where  he  subsequently  erected  a  cabin.  He 
built  a  fire  and  his  wife  proceeded  to  prepare  supper,  surrounded 


THE  CAPTIVITY  OF  CHRISTIAN  FAST.  63 

by  a  dense  forest.  "While  in  the  act  of  cooking,  their  little  com- 
pany was  alarmed  by  the  appearance  of  eight  or  ten  Indians, 
headed  by  an  old  warrior  who  was  extremely  ugly,  shriveled  in 
£esh,  and  ferocious  in  appearance.  They  had  just  discovered 
their  new  neighbors  and  came  to  see  who  they  were.  On  ap- 
proaching within  a  few  feet  of  Mr.  Fast,  and  his  children,  who 
were  seated  on  a  log  near  where  Mrs.  Fast  was  preparing  supper, 
the  old  Indian  looked  steadfastly  at  Mr.  Fast  for  a  moment,  and 
then  rushing  forward  exclaimed,  Molunthe  !  at  the  same  time 
offering  his  hand  in  token  of  friendship. 

The  old  warrior  was  Thomas  Lyon,  who  was  present  at  the 
capture  of  Fast  on  the  Ohio,  some  thirty-five  years  prior  to  that 
time,  and  was  along  with  the  expedition  to  Wheeling,  when  his 
favorite  young  warrior,  Molunthe,  made  his  escape.  The  Indians 
had  never  suspected  him  for  desertion,  but  had  always  believed  he 
had,  in  the  darkness,  fallen  into  the  river  and  drowned.  Oil  find- 
ing him  here,  alive,  old  Tom  manifested  much  gratification 
and  gave  many  tokens  of  a  friendship  that  remained  very  cordial 
up  to  1822,  the  last  appearance  of  the  Delawares  in  this  region. 
During  the  ensuing  seven  years,  the  Delawares  often  encamped 
in  the  vicinity,  regarding  Mr.  Fast  and  family  as  of  their  tribe. 
They  frequently  went  into  his  cabin,  in  the  evening,  and  danced 
after  the  Delaware  manner,  making  rude  music  by  pounding  on 
a  stool  and  singing,  while  the  dancers  hopped  about  the  room, 
flourishing  their  scalping-knives,  shouting  and  keeping  time  to 
the  music. 

In  the  fall  of  1819  old  Thomas  Lyon  and  a  party  of  Delawares 
had  a  feast  on  what  is  now  known  as  the  John  Freeborn  farm, 
south-west  of  Savannah,  to  which  Mr.  Fast  and  his  sons  were  in- 
vited. Being  unable  to  be  present,  his  sons  Nicholas  and  Francis, 
aged  respectively  twenty-five  and  fifteen,  attended.  The  feast 
was  in  their  camp.  There  were  present  some  fifty  or  sixty  In- 
dians, and  no  whites,  except  the  Fasts.  A  large  black  bear  had 
been  roasted  and  boiled.  The  body  being  roasted,  was  cut  into 
small  slices  and  handed  around  on  new  bark  plates.  The  head 
and  feet,  unskinned,  were  boiled  in  a  copper  kettle,  and  a  sort  of 
soup  made  therefrom,  which  was  passed  around  in  wooden  ladles. 


64  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Nicholas  and  Francis  partook,  courteously  with  the  Indians. 
The  roast  was  elegant,  but  the  soup  was  not  relished.  At  the 
conclusion  of  the  feast,  Lyon  insisted  on  painting  Francis  Indian 
fashion.  The  boy  readily  submitted,  for  the  fun  of  the  thing. 

Old  Tom  laid  on  a  good  coat  of  vermillion,  which  gave 
him  the  appearance  of  a  young  Indian.  The  paint  was  so  ad- 
hesive that  when  he  returned  home,  he  was  unable  to  remove  it 
for  a  long  time ;  and  was  afterwards  known  as  Indian  Frank. 
Billy  Montour,  Jim  Jirk,  Monos,  Jonacake  George  and  Jim  Lyon, 
Buckwheat,  Billy  Dowdy,  Capt.  George,  and  other  well  known 
Delawares  were  at  the  feast. 

Christian  Fast  had  nine  sons,  Jacob,  Martin,  William,  Mcholas, 
David,  Francis,  George,  Christian  and  John ;  and  four  daughters, 
Margaret,  Barbara,  Isabel  and  Christena. 

Christian  Fast  senior  died  at  his  farm  in  Ashland  county, 
Ohio,  in  1849. 


THE  ESQ UIMA  UX  OF  LABRADOR^ 

BY  A.  S.  PACKARD,  JR. 

IN  the  summer  of  1864  the  writer  had  a  rare  opportunity  of 
visiting  the  coast  of  Labrador,  in  company  with  William  Brad- 
ford, the  well-known  marine  artist.  *  *  * 

For  a  month  our  fleet-winged  schooner,  ill  adapted  for  the 
dangers  of  arctic  navigation,  had  been  held  ice-bound,  for 
several  days  at  Belles-Amours,  in  the  straits  of  Belle-Isle ;  also 
at  Henley  harbor,  a  noble  fiord  nearly  opposite  Belle-Isle ;  and 
for  a  fortnight  at  a  little  box  of  a  harbor  in  Square  island,  south 
of  the  entrance  of  Hamilton  inlet,  or,  as  it  was  earlier  named, 
Invuctoke  bay,  where  the  floe-ice  crowded  and  almost  jammed 
in  the  sides  of  our  vessel,  and  for  many  days  formed  a  natural 
bridge  for  us  to  pass  ashore.  From  the  mountains  above  us  we 
watched,  day  by  day,  the  ceaseless  march  of  icebergs  and  cakes, 
large  and  small,  composing  an.  ice-pack,  extending  probably  a 
thousand  miles  or  more  from  the  banks  of  Newfoundland  up 
to  the  arctic  regions,  and  perhaps  a  hundred  miles  in  width  (some- 
times vessels  coming  from  London  strike  it  two  hundred  miles 
oft*  shore),  the  ice-king  occasionally  forcing  into  his  ranks  a 
Newfoundland  or  Nova  Scotia  fishing-smack,  which  was  either 
carried  far  to  the  southward,  or  exposed  to  the  danger  of  being 
crushed  between  immense  masses  of  floe-ice,  or  foundering,  should 
a  storm  arise.  We  had  escaped  these  perils ;  a  fresh  westerly 
breeze  forced  the  ice-pack  off  shore,  leaving  a  channel,  studded 
with  small  lumps  of  ice,  between  the  shore  and  the  ice-floe.  Two 
or  three  days  previous,  on  the  25th  of  July,  while  laid  up  in  a 
harbor,  so  very  snug  and  narrow  that  we  had  not  room  to  swing 
by  our  cable,  a  snow  storm  visited  us,  leaving  drifts  a  foot  deep 
on  the  hills  rising  five  hundred  to  eight  hundred  feet  above  us. 

Our  sail  to  Hopedale,  under  these  auspices,  reminded  us  of 
the  experiences  of  arctic  voyagers.  As  we  glided  along  the  snow- 

1  Reprinted  from  Appleton^s  Journal  (New  York),  for  December  9, 1871.     Revised  by  the  author 
for  The  Indian  Miscellany. 

6 


66  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

clad  coast,  our  reveries  were  often  rudely  disturbed  by  a  shock 
and  start,  as  a  hard  lump  of  the  clearest  fresh-water  ice  jarred 
our  craft  from  stem  to  stern.  But  the  sail  was  a  rare  one  for  our 
yachtmen.  The  ice-floe,  with  its  prospective  dangers  of  closing 
in  upon  us,  should  the  wind  veer  around  to  its  favorite  quarter  — 
the  northeast  —  walled  us  in  from  the  open  sea  beyond.  We 
scud  along  with  two  reefs  in  our  main-sail,  our  vessel  under  the 
guidance  of  an  Esquimaux  pilot,  a  boy  in  the  employ  of  a  Nor- 
wegian, himself  once  a  subordinate  in  the  Hudson  Bay  Company. 
He  knows  the  courses  by  which  to  steer,  and  some  of  the  dan- 
gerous rocks  in  the  way ;  for  the  rest  we  trust  to  luck,  since 
there  are  no  charts  of  this  rock-and-reef-studded  coast.  As  we 
sail  on,  the  islands  and  main-land  rise  higher  and  bolder  from 
the  water,  and  their  outline  against  the  clear  northern  sky  is 
ragged  and  broken  in  the  extreme.  This  wild  coast-scenery 
culminates  in  the  strange,  volcano-like,  glacier-streaked,  jagged 
mountains  of  Cape  Chudleigh,  which  we  had  longed  and  designed 
to  see,  but  ice  and  ignorance  of  the  coast  forbade. 

As  we  ran  into  Hopedale  harbor,  situated  at  the  head  of  a  deep, 
broad  bay,  we  nearly  overhauled  the  Moravian  supply  ship  Har- 
mony, just  in  from  London,  having  made  her  annual  summer 
trip,  bearing  supplies  to  the  three  Moravian  stations,  Hopedale, 
Nain  and  Okkak.  She  is  a  bark  of  three  hundred  tons,  American 
measurement,  and  as  neatly  kept  as  a  naval  vessel.  For  ninety 
years  the  London  agent  of  the  Moravian  society  has  sent  a  Har- 
mony to  this  dangerous  coast,  losing  but  a  couple  of  men  during 
the  whole  period,  one  of  these  having  been  upset  in  a  kayak.  As 
our  predecessor  in  these  waters  nears  the  station,  and  before  our 
eyes  had  fairly  distinguished  the  red  roofs  of  the  mission  houses, 
she  fired  a  salute  from  two  nine-pounders,  and  we  observed  her 
flag  drooping  at  half-mast,  conveying  the  intelligence  of  the  death 
during  the  past  year  of  the  London  secretary,  Latrobe.  The 
boom  of  the  mission  gun  answered  reply,  with  an  irregular, 
rattling  volley  from  the  fowling-pieces  of  the  Esquimaux.  "We 
noticed  the  mission  flag  also  at  half-mast,  as  the  station  had 
recently  lost  by  death  Superintendent  Kruth. 

We  secured  good  anchorage  near  the  Harmony.     A  clumsy 


THE  ESQUIMAUX  OF  LABRADOR.  67 

row-boat,  native-built,  accompanied  by  a  kayak,  brought  from  the 
shore  the  three  missionaries  and  their  wives.  The  Harmony  had 
brought  out  a  missionary,  who  had  been  absent  two  years  in  the 
fatherland,  and  Mr.  Linklater,  the  agent  of  the  Labrador  mis- 
sions. The  meeting  partook  of  all  the  heartiness  of  the  Germans, 
the  brethren  greeting  one  another  with  a  kiss. 

The  harbor  now  seemed  alive  with  kayaks,  hastening  to  the 
bark,  and  then  flying  over  to  our  craft.  Up  they  scrambled, 
swarming  over  our  decks  —  nothing  of  the  stolidity  and  apparent 
self-absorption  of  the  Indian  in  their  faces.  These  intelligent 
Esquimaux  were  fully  alive  to  the  beauty  of  our  model  and  spars, 
the  neatness  of  our  decks,  the  comforts  of  our  cabin,  even  to  the 
interior  of  our  swill  buckets  ;  and  soon,  in  the  course  of  the  trade 
that  sprung  up,  our  old  clothes  found  their  way  to  their  backs 
and  limbs,  that  seemed  lost  in  them.  The  tallest  Esquimaux 
just  came  up  to  the  shoulders  of  a  medium-sized  Yankee,  and 
these  diminutive  folk  seemed  better  fitted  for  their  kayaks  and 
iglooks  than  for  the  luxuries  of  vessels  and  storied  houses. 

An  exodus  of  sea-worn  Caucasians  was  the  result  of  this  im- 
promptu visit.  We  returned  the  polite  attentions  of  our  newly- 
made  friends  of  the  kayaks  and  iglooks,  and  novel  enough  were 
the  scenes  of  that  afternoon.  Some  of  us,  with  intentions  of 
trade  in  furs  and  articles  of  Esquimaux  vertu,  at  once,  with  strings 
of  beads  and  other  stock  in  trade,  struck  off  for  the  huts  of  the 
natives,  and  found  their  match  in  shrewdness  and  skill  in  trade. 
Others  —  myself  among  the  number — preferred  to  take  a  bird's- 
eye  view  of  this  century-old  town.  We  sauntered  through  the 
rows  of  huts,  picking  our  way  through  the  accumulated  filth  of 
decades,  and  the  ancient  mud-puddles  and  quagmires  interspersed 
among  the  streets,  gazing  upon  the  various  forms  of  hideousness 
which,  in  a  curious  mixture  of  seal  skins,  woollen  jumpers,  duck 
jackets,  red-bordered  swallow-tails,  and  dirty  calico  gowns, 
stared  and  grinned  at  the  new  comers.  Aged  Esquimaux  are 
not  fair  to  look  upon.  The  patriarch  of  the  place  was  a  woman 
of  seventy  years ;  for  old  age  creeps  rapidly  on  the  Innuit  matron, 
and  she  does  not  grow  graceful  or  beautiful  with  age.  There 
were  in  this  colony  three  women  sixty  years  old.  A  man  forty- 


68  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

five  years  old  is  considered  aged,  as  the  autumnal  seal-fisheries 
with  all  their  hardships  make  them  prematurely  old.  The  young 
women  and  girls,  with  black  hair,  coal-black,  shining  eyes,  stuck 
like  beads  between  their  huge,  high,  plump  cheeks,  nearly  effac- 
ing their  snub  noses,  giggled  and  grinned  a  welcome.  The 
natives  were  at  first  a  little  shy  of  us,  but  gradually  a  brisk  trade 
sprung  up.  We  gave  them  fishhooks,  beads,  tobacco  and  pipes, 
old  clothes,  and  letter-paper,  taking  in  return  seal-skin  boots 
and  mittens,  skin  suits,  and  ivory  models  of  kayaks,  while  the 
naturalists  of  the  party  took  birds'eggs  and  other  curiosities. 

The  native  huts  were  thirty-five  in  number,  and  a  description 
of  one  will  answer  for  all,  as  the  dirt,  squalor,  and  architecture, 
are  a  characteristic  of  each  and  all.  They  are  made  of  upright 
logs,  turfed  on  the  outside,  with  cross  logs  forming  a  low  roof, 
pierced  for  two  windows,  one  in  the  roof,  and  of  five  or  six  panes 
each,  glazed  with  the  intestines  of  the  seal,  while  in  some  the 
panes  were  filled  with  pieces  of  glass.  The  interior  forms  a  single 
room,  sometimes  tenanted  by  two  families,  the  tenements  sepa- 
rated by  a  slight  partition.  At  the  farther  end  of  the  small,  low 
room,  which  in  the  better  sort  of  houses  is  floored  over,  and  was 
not  high  enough  for  us  to  stand  erect  in,  is  a  sort  of  divan  or 
seat,  on  which  materfamilias  reclines.  We  make  her  a  bow, 
rendered  low  both  from  courtesy  and  the  height  of  the  door-way 
of  the  low,  narrow  portico,  pick  our  way  among  two  or  three 
sleeping  dogs,  give  a  wide  berth  to  a  Scylla  of  a  seal's  carcass 
with  more  than  "  an  ancient  and  fish-like  smell,"  steer  by  a 
strange  sort  of  vesicular  Charybdis,  in  whose  urinary  contents 
lies  soaking  a  seal-skin  which  is  destined  to  be  chewed  between 
the  grinders  of  our  hostess,  as  she  may  design  making  a  pair  of 
seal-skin  boots,  and  the  leather  has  to  be  thus  softened  to 
be  easily  sewed.  Our  spectacled  hostess  is,  however,  as  we 
enter,  engaged  in  making  a  basket  of  dried  rushes,  colored 
blue  and  red.  A  shelf  within  her  reach  contains  a  soapstone 
lamp  of  the  pattern  described  by  Dr.  Kane,  needles,  and  other 
articles  of  housewifery,  together  with  a  well-thumbed  Bible 
printed  in  the  Esquimaux  tongue.  Indeed,  we  noticed  one  in 
each  house,  with  the  name  of  the  owner  written  in  a  neat,  regu- 


THE  ESQUIMAUX  OF   LABRADOR.  69 

lar  hand;  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  these  natives  are 
Christianized  and  taught  to  read  and  write.  After  all,  upon  re- 
flection, considering  their  antecedents,  their  mode  of  life,  and 
the  freedom  of  arctic  regions  from  noisome  exhalations,  our  dusky 
friends  were  passably  neat,  and  their  houses  perhaps  orderly 
enough.  After  a  three  days'  acquaintance,  we  found  the  natives 
quiet  and  well-behaved,  honest  in  their  dealings,  of  mild,  gentle 
manners,  always  ready  with  a  smile  and  a  nod.  They  are  re- 
markably intelligent,  quick  to  learn,  and  far  above  the  Indians 
in  aptness  and  industry.  They  are  taught  to  make  boats,  and 
there  lay  in  the  harbor  a  schooner  of  fifty  tons,  built  and  manned 
by  Esquimaux.  They  also  learn  to  read  and  write  and  sing. 
They  seem  to  be  good  church-goers,  and  are  probably  as  free 
from  vice,  even  of  the  grosser  sorts,  as  their  fellow-Christians  in 
more  favored  lands,  who  probably  make  greater  pretensions  to 
piety.  But  these  people,  so  interesting  to  the  students  of  fossil 
tribes,  whose  remains  are  found  in  the  shell-heaps  and  caves  of 
the  old  world,  and  to  the  anthropologist  generally,  are  rapidly 
passing  away,  and,  before  another  century  goes  by,  Labrador 
will  probably  be  depopulated  of  its  Esquimaux.  They  are  even 
now  partly  dependent  for  their  supplies  on  the  kindness  of  their 
German  friends,  who  in  their  care  for  their  souls  do  not  neglect 
the  outer  man.  Consumption  sweeps  them  away,  about  seventy 
having  perished  in  the  previous  March  from  the  three  colonies 
of  Hopedale,  Nain,  and  Okkak  —  twenty-one  alone  having  died 
at  Hopedale,  which  numbers  about  two  hundred  souls.  The  wars 
between  the  Indians  and  Esquimaux  have  now  ceased.  Formerly, 
the  latter  extended  down  to  the  straits  of  Belle-Isle,  and  four 
summers  previous  we  saw  the  last  full  blooded  Esquimaux  on 
the  straits  —  the  wife  of  an  Englishman  at  Salmon  bay,  at  the 
mouth  of  Esquimaux  river.  She  was  a  bold  and  skilful  hunter, 
even  more  successful  in  shooting  seals  than  the  hunters  in  the 
neighborhood,  and  withal  a  neat,  capable  housewife. 

During  the  winter  they  go  on  lumbering  trips,  fifty  miles  up 
the  rivers,  bringing  down  logs  fifty  feet  in  length,  and  twenty 
inches  in  diameter  at  the  butt,  a  number  of  which  were  lying  by 
the  mission  house.  The  girls  and  young  women  were,  in  some 


70  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

cases,  quite  pretty,  with  a  neatly  turned  foot,  and  an  instep  a 
queen  would  be  proud  of.  All  seemed  industrious,  some  filling 
orders  for  skin  suits  our  party  had  given,  or  rubbing  up  their 
toys  and  other  salable  articles  for  barter.  The  men  do  little 
more  than  hunt  and  fish ;  but  I  found  that  they  were  very  ob- 
serving, and,  through  a  young  man  that  spoke  English,  learned 
some  important  facts  regarding  the  distribution  of  arctic  animals. 
He  said  that  the  white  bear  was  not  unfrequently  brought  down 
from  the  north  on  the  floe-ice,  and  was  seen  about  the  shore 
during  the  summer,  while  the  black  bear  is  common  in-shore. 

Indeed,  the  flora  and  the  fauna  were  here  intensely  arctic.  On 
the  hills  and  rocks  about  us  was  the  little  white  sandwort,  familiar 
to  those  rambling  among  the  rocks  of  the  summit  of  Mount 
Washington,  with  many  other  truly  arctic  forms,  and  the  butter- 
flies, moths,  and  beetles  that  hovered  over  them,  or  ran  among 
their  leaves,  were  the  most  typical  arctic  insects. 

On  showing  our  interpreter  a  book  with  figures  of  the  narwhal 
and  walrus,  we  learned  that  one  of  the  older  men,  when  a  boy, 
saw  a  narwhal  off  the  harbor,  indicating  that  that  strange  animal, 
now  exclusively  confined  to  the  arctic  seas,,  formerly  ranged  far 
to  the  southward,  and  may,  during  the  glacial  period,  have  been 
a  New  Englander.  He  also  said  that  the  walrus  was  never  seen 
here.  A  century  ago,  however,  the  walrus  lived  along  the  La- 
brador shore,  and  our  fishermen  and  whalers  exterminated  it 
from  the  Magdalen  islands,  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  On 
showing  him  a  picture  of  the  lobster,  he  declared  that  both  it 
and  the  common  shore  crab  were  not  found  north  of  Hamilton 
inlet,  where  he  had  observed  them.  The  sea  trout  is  taken  here 
abundantly  with  the  net.  This  seems  to  be  a  truly  arctic  fish. 
It  was  much  more  abundant  than  the  salmon.  The  wolverine 
is  not  uncommon  here.  Indeed,  this  was  the  border  land  between 
the  arctic  and  boreal  flora  and  fauna,  the  white  bear  disputing 
the  proprietorship  of  the  soil  with  the  black,  the  arctic  foxes  out- 
numbering the  red,  and  all  the  humbler  forms  of  animal  life 
being  almost  purely  arctic,  with  a  small  percentage  of  more 
southern  types.  The  climate  is  like  that  of  Greenland,  the  scenic 
features  of  the  land  are  thoroughly  arctic,  and  the  ice  laden  sea, 


THE  ESQUIMAUX  OF  LABRADOR.  71 

of  a  temperature  bordering  on  the  freezing  point,  is  frozen  up 
fully  six  months  in  the  year. 

A  voyage  of  two  weeks  from  Boston  or  New  York  will  bring 
one  into  these  Arctic  surroundings.  The  summer  days,  when 
the  sky  is  clear,  are  warm  and  delightful,  the  air  is  wonderfully 
invigorating,  and  a  voyage  to  this  coast  often  does  wonders  in 
restoring  those  afflicted  with  pulmonary  diseases,  as  well  as  dys- 
peptics. When  the  summers  are  tolerably  pleasant,  and  the 
coast  free  from  fogs,  yachting  in  these  waters,  though  somewhat 
dangerous  from  the  want  of  charts  and  pilots,  is  delightful,  and 
our  pleasure  boats  will  doubtless  often  push  their  way  up  into 
these  hyperborean  regions.  Curlew  shooting,  reindeer  hunts,  a 
possible  white  bear,  salmon  fishing,  duck  shooting,  and  bird's 
nesting,  will  entice  them  to  explore  the  deep,  awe-inspiring  fiords, 
the  rapid  rivers,  and  the  rugged  mountains  of  this  picturesque 
and  deserted  coast. 

But  the  chapel  bell  tolls  the  hour  of  evening  prayers.  "We  have 
chatted  by  the  language  of  fingers  and  signs,  with  occasional 
eilars  na-mes,  aps,  and  other  interjections,  having  had  no  difficulty 
in  conveying  our  meaning,  nor  in  understanding  our  host's,  and 
now  wend  our  way  to  the  church.  The  surroundings  about  the 
huts  are  peculiar.  A  kayak  or  two  recline  on  a  framework  of 
poles,  a  bear-skin  swings  in  the  breeze  on  one  side  of  the  hut, 
and,  in  front  of  the  porch,  a  string  of  cut  and  drying  codfish 
perfume  the  air.  We  allow  our  feminine  friends  to  walk  on 
before  us,  and  their  gait,  originally  awkward  enough,  is  intensi- 
fied by  the  swinging  tails  to  their  jumpers,  and  the  loosely-setting, 
low-waisted  trousers,  when  the  form  of  the  wearer  is  not  fortu- 
nate enough  to  be  concealed  by  a  cast-off  calico  gown.  With 
them,  waddling  is  reduced  to  a  fine  art. 

Entering  the  chapel,  a  wooden  one-storied  building,  we  find 
the  native  portion  of  the  audience  already  seated,  the  sexes 
separately,  even  having  entered  by  a  separate  door,  and  the 
youngest  seated  in  the  front  row  of  unpainted  benches.  Soon 
file  in  the  missionaries  and  their  wives,  and  they  sit,  the  sexes 
apart,  on  a  stoop  next  the  wall,  directly  facing  the  native  audience, 
with  the  pulpit,  or  reading-desk,  dividing  the  seat.  They  sit 


72  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

with  grave,  composed  countenances,  and  among  the  Esquimaux 
the  utmost  reverence  for  the  place  and  attention  to  the  exercises 
prevail.  The  minister  makes  a  short  invocation  in  the  Esqui- 
maux language.  The  organ  strikes  up,  played  by  an  Esquimaux 
boy,  and  the  minister  gives  out  the  number  of  the  hymn  in 
German ;  the  people  rise,  and  the  quaint  melody  of  an  old- 
fashioned,  droning  German  hymn,  composed,  for  aught  we  know, 
in  Luther's  time,  though  set  to  Esquimaux  words,  fills  the  church. 
All  stand  up  reverently  during  the  singing,  and  the  music  is  not 
unpleasant,  soothing  the  senses,  and  doubtless  most  beneficent 
in  its  effects  on  these  untutored  minds.  Hymn  after  hymn  is 
thus  chanted  for  perhaps  twenty  minutes,  all  the  congregation 
joining;  a  short  prayer  completes  the  service,  and  thus  ends  the 
day.  The  audience  quietly  disperse,  retiring  in  quiet  to  their 
homes ;  the  sun  has  set,  the  shades  of  night  gather  about  the 
hamlet,  and,  if  the  inquisitive  traveler  should  in  a  few  minutes 
perambulate  the  deserted  streets,  he  would  meet  only  the  silence 
of  the  midnight,  as  all  are  abed  and  asleep. 

The  first  day  of  August  was  a  lovely  one ;  the  thermometer 
rose  to  perhaps  70°,  the  warm  rays  of  the  sun  encouraging  the 
mosquitoes  unduly,  which  hovered  in  swarms  about  our  deserted 
vessel.  Groups  of  Esquimaux  accompanied  them,  clambering  up 
the  sides  of  the  vessel,  coming  off'  from  shore  in  boats  and  kayaks. 
Kayak  races  and  other  aquatic  sports  were  now  the  order  of  the 
day,  a  plug  of  tobacco  being  the  highest  prize.  They  handled 
their  kayaks  in  the  most  approved  style.  A  favorite  sport  seemed 
to  be  for  one  to  paddle  his  kayak  over  the  bows  or  stern  of 
another  lying  still  across  his  track.  Our  crew  and  passengers 
borrowed  the  kayaks  freely,  and  some  soon  learned  the  use  of 
this  frail  skiff,  so  as  to  paddle  ashore  and  back,  a  distance  of 
nearly  a  mile.  These  kayaks  had  wooden  frames,  over  which 
seal-skins  were  stretched,  but  they  seemed  broader  and  clumsier 
than  those  from  Greenland.  We  ventured  to  paddle  about  in 
one,  and  found  it  very  easy  to  manage,  the  principal  difficulty 
being  to  keep  the  head  steadily  pointed  in  the  desired  course,  as 
a  too  powerful  stroke  would  make  her  veer  from  one  side  to  the 
other.  Of  course,  if  one  capsizes,  he  is  in  a  dangerous  predica- 


THE  ESQUIMAUX  OF  LABRADOR  73 

ment,  as  the  hole  in  which  he  sits  closely  fits  his  body,  and  a  tall 
man  could  not  extricate  himself  while  head  downward  in  the 
water.  The  spears  and  bladder  floats  are  like  those  of  Greenland. 

In  fishing,  the  Hopedale  Esquimaux  use  small  nets,  with  which 
they  take  the  sea  trout,  a  fish  with  large  scales,  being  a  com- 
pound of  the  ordinary  river  and  lake  trout  and  the  salmon.  They 
catch  codfish  with  the  jigger.  Though  the  missionaries  have  set 
them  an  admirable  example  in  pleasantly  arranged  and  highly 
cultivated  gardens,  in  which  quite  a  number  of  vegetables  were 
raised  with  more  or  less  success  in  this  rigorous  climate,  yet  the 
Esquimaux  is  no  farmer.  His  sole  occupation  consists  in  keeping 
his  family  supplied  with  animal  food.  The  Esquimaux  are  flesh- 
eaters,  par  excellence,  and  a  Grahamite  would  scarcely  be  tolerated 
among  them.  During  the  summer,  if  unusually  enterprising,  he 
takes  his  family  and  travels  about  with  a  skin  tent,  fishing  and 
shooting  birds,  and  occasionally  killing  a  seal  or  bear.  In  the 
autumn  and  spring,  seal-hunting  is  his  exclusive  care,  though 
water  fowl  and  a  deer  or  two  may  sometimes  enliven  his  mono- 
tonous seal  diet,  while  in  the  long  winter,  when  the  seals  are  not 
to  be  had,  and  starvation  stares  him  and  his  family  in  the  face, 
the  kindly  aid  of  his  Moravian  brethren  is  invoked. 

His  family  is  not  usually  a  large  one ;  the  good  wife  is  not 
blessed  with  many  children  in  that  cold,  bleak,  harsh  climate. 
Indeed,  the  days  of  the  Esquimaux  in  Labrador  are  numbered. 
They  are  rapidly  disappearing,  victims  of  desolating  wars  between 
themselves  and  the  Indians,  of  consumption  and  severe  colds, 
and  their  own  shiftlessness  and  improvidence.  Before  another 
century  has  passed,  the  few  stragglers  living  upon  this  coast  will 
be  chiefly  interesting  to  the  student  of  mankind,  as  relics  of  a 
semi-fossil  people  who  figure  largely  in  books  on  prehistoric  times. 


INDIAN  MEDICINE. ' 
BY  JOHN  MASON  BROWNE. 

Every  one  who  has  fed  his  boyish  fancy  with  the  stories  of 
pioneers  and  hunters  has  heard  of  the  character  known  among 
Indians  as  the  medicine  man.  But  it  may  very  likely  be  the 
case  that  few  of  those  familiar  with  the  term  really  know  the 
import  of  the  word.  A  somewhat  protracted  residence  among 
the  Blackfoot  tribe  of  Indians,  and  an  extensive  observation  of 
men  and  manners  as  they  appear  in  the  wilder  parts  of  the  Rocky 
mountains  and  British  America,  have  enabled  the  writer  to  give 
some  facts  which  may  not  prove  wholly  uninteresting. 

By  the  term  medicine,  much  more  is  implied  than  mere 
curative  drugs,  or  a  system  of  curative  practice.  Among  all  the 
tribes  of  American  Indians,  the  word  is  used  with  a  double  sig- 
nification, a  literal  and  narrow  meaning,  and  a  general  and 
rather  undefined  application.  It  signifies  not  only  physical  re- 
medies and  the  art  of  using  them,  but  second  sight,  prophecy, 
and  preternatural  power.  As  an  adjective,  it  embraces  the  idea 
of  supernatural  as  well  as  remedial. 

As  an  example  of  the  use  of  the  word  in  its  mystic  signification, 
the  following  may  be  given.  The  horse,  as  is  well  known,  was 
to  the  Indian,  on  his  first  importation,  a  strange  and  terrible 
beast.  Having  no  native  word  by  which  to  designate  this  hitherto 
unknown  creature,  the  Indians  contrived  a  name  by  combining 
the  name  of  some  familiar  animal,  most  nearly  resembling  the 
horse,  with  the  medicine  term  denoting  astonishment  or  awe. 
Consequently  the  Blackfeet,  adding  to  the  word  elk  (pounikd) 
the  adjective  medicine  (tos),  called  the  horse  pounika-ma-ta, 
i.  e.  medicine  elk.  This  word  is  still  their  designation  for  a 
horse. 

With  this  idea  of  medicine,  and  recollecting  that  the  word  is 
used  to  express  two  classes  of  thoughts  very  different,  and  separated 


Reprinted  from  The  Atlantic  Monthly  (Boston),  for  July,  1866. 


INDIAN  MEDICINE.  75 

by  civilization,  though  confounded  by  the  savage,  it  will  not 
surprise  one  to  find  that  the  medicine  men  are  conjurers  as  well 
as  doctors,  and  that  their  conjurations  partake  as  much  of  medical 
quackery  as  does  their  medical  practice  of  affected  incantation. 
As  physicians,  the  medicine  men  are  below  contempt,  and,  but 
for  the  savage  cruelty  of  their  ignorance,  undeserving  of  notice. 
The  writer  has  known  a  man  to  have  his  uvula  and  palate  torn 
out  by  a  medicine  man.  In  that  cnse  the  disease  was  a  hacking 
cough  caused  by  an  elongation  of  the  uvula ;  and  the  remedy 
adopted  (after  preparatory  singing,  dancing,  burning  buffalo  hair, 
and  other  conjurations)  was  to  seize  the  uvula  with  a  pair  of 
bullet-moulds,  and  tear  from  the  poor  wretch  every  tissue  that 
would  give  way.  Death  of  course  ensued  in  a  short  time.  The 
unfortunate  man  had,  however,  died  in  "  able  hands,"  and  ac- 
cording to  the  "  highest  principles  of  [Indian]  medical  art." 

Were  I  to  tell  how  barbarously  I  have  seen  men  mutilated, 
simply  to  extract  an  arrow  head  from  a  wound,  the  story  would 
scarce  be  credited.  Common  sense  has  no  place  in  the  system 
of  Indian  medicine  men,  nor  do  they  appear  to  have  gained  an 
idea,  beyond  the  rudest,  from  experience. 

In  their  quality  of  seers,  however,  they  are  more  important, 
and  frequently  more  successful  persons,  attaining,  of  course, 
various  degrees  of  proficiency  and  reputation.  An  accomplished 
dreamer  has  a  sure  competency  in  that  gift.  He  is  reverently 
consulted,  handsomely  paid,  and,  in  general,  strictly  obeyed. 
His  influence,  when  once  established,  is  more  potent  even  than 
that  of  a  war  chief.  The  dignity  and  profit  of  the  position  are 
baits  sufficient  to  command  the  attention  and  ambition  of  the 
ablest  men;  yet  it  is  not  unfrequently  the  case  that  persons 
otherwise  undistinguished  are  noted  for  clear  and  strong  power  • 
of  medicine. 

Of  the  three  most  distinguished  medicine  men  known  to  the 
writer,  but  one  was  a  man  of  powerful  intellect.  Even  this  per- 
son preferred  a  somewhat  sedentary,  and  what  might  be  called 
a  strictly  professional  life,  to  the  usual  active  habits  of  the  hunting 
and  warring  tribes.  He  dwelt  almost  alone  on  a  far  northern 
branch  of  the  Saskatchewan  river,  revered  for  his  gifts,  feared 


76  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

for  his  power,  and  always  approached  with  something  of  reluct- 
ance by  the  Indians,  who  firmly  believed  the  spirit  of  the  gods 
to  dwell  within  him.  He  was  an  austere  and  taciturn  man,  diffi- 
cult of  access,  and  as  vain  and  ambitious  as  he  was  haughty  and 
contemptuous.  Those  who  professed  to  have  witnsssed  the  scene 
told  of  a  trial  of  power  between  this  man  — the  Black  Snake,  as 
he  was  called  —  and  a  renowned  medicine  man  of  a  neighboring 
tribe.  The  contest,  from  what  the  Indians  said,  must  have  oc- 
curred about  1855. 

The  rival  medicine  men,  each  furnished  with  his  medicine  bag, 
his  amulets,  and  other  professional  paraphernalia,  arrayed  in  full 
dress,  and  covered  with  war  paint,  met  in  the  presence  of  a  great 
concourse.  Both  had  prepared  for  the  encounter  by  long  fasting 
and  conjurations.  After  the  pipe,  which  precedes  all  important 
councils,  the  medicine  men  sat  down  opposite  to  each  other,  a 
few  feet  apart.  The  trial  of  power  seems  to  have  been  conducted 
on  principles  of  animal  magnetism,  and  lasted  a  long  while  with- 
out decided  advantage  on  either  side;  until  the  Black  Snake, 
concentrating  all  his  power,  or  "  gathering  his  medicine,"  in  a 
loud  voice  commanded  his  opponent  to  die.  The  unfortunate 
conjurer  succumbed,  and  in  a  few  minutes  "  his  spirit,"  as  my 
informant  said,  "  went  beyond  the  sand  buttes."  The  only 
charm  or  amulet  ever  used  by  the  Black  Snake  is  said  to  have 
been  a  small  bean-shaped  pebble  suspended  round  his  neck  by  a 
cord  of  moose  sinew.  He  had  his  books,  it  is  true,  but  they  were 
rarely  exhibited.1 

The  death  of  his  rival,  by  means  so  purely  non-mechanical  or 
physical,  gave  the  Black  Snake  a  preeminence  in  medicine, 
which  he  has  ever  since  maintained.  It  was  useless  to  suggest 
poison,  deception,  or  collusion,  to  explain  the  occurrence.  The 
firm  belief  was  that  the  spiritual  power  of  the  Black  Snake  had 
alone  secured  his  triumph. 

I  mentioned  this  story  to  a  highly  educated  and  deeply  religious 

1  The  Mountain  Assinaboins,  of  which  tribe  the  Black  Snake  is  (if  living)  a  distinguished  orna- 
ment, were  visited  more  than  a  hundred  years  since  by  an  Engli>h  clergyman  named  Wolsey,  who 
devised  an  alphabet  for  their  use.  The  alphabet  is  still  used  by  them,  and  they  keep  their  memo- 
randa on  dressed  skins.  With  the  exception  of  the  Cherokees,  they  are,  perhaps,  the  only  tribe 
possessing  a  written  language.  They  have  no  other  civilization. 


INDIAN  MEDICINE.  77 

man  of  my  acquaintance.  He  was  a  priest  of  the  Jesuit  order,  a 
European  by  birth,  formerly  a  professor  in  a  continental  uni- 
versity of  high  repute,  and  beyond  doubt  a  guileless  and  pious 
man.  His  acquaintance  with  Indian  life  extended  over  more 
than  twenty  years  of  missionary  labor  in  the  wildest  parts  of  the 
west  slope  of  the  Rocky  mountains.  To  my  surprise  (for  I  was 
then  a  novice  in  the  country),  I  found  him  neither  astonished, 
nor  shocked,  nor  amused,  by  what  seemed  to  me  so  gross  a 
superstition. 

"  I  have  seen,"  said  he,  "  many  exhibitions  of  power,  which  my 
philosophy  cannot  explain.  I  have  known  predictions  of  events 
far  in  the  future  to  be  literally  fulfilled,  and  have  seen  medicine 
tested  in  the  most  conclusive  ways.  I  once  saw  a  Kootenai 
Indian  (known  generally  as  Skookum-tamaherewos,  from  his 
extraordinary  power)  command  a  mountain  sheep  to  fall  dead, 
and  the  animal,  then  leaping  among  the  rocks  of  the  mountain- 
side, fell  instantly  lifeless.  'This  I  saw  with  my  own  eyes,  and  I 
ate  of  the  animal  afterwards.  It  was  unwounded,  healthy,  and 
perfectly  wild.  Ah !"  continued  he,  crossing  himself  and  looking 
upwards,  "  Mary  protect  us  !  the  medicine  men  have  power  from 
Sathanas." l 

This  statement,  made  by  so  responsible  a  person,  attracted  my 
attention  to  what  before  seemed  but  a  clumsy  species  of  juggling. 
During  many  months  of  intimate  knowledge  of  Indian  life,  as  an 
adopted  member  of  a  tribe,  as  a  resident  in  their  camps,  and  their 
companion  on  hunts  and  war-parties,  I  lost  no  opportunity  of 
gathering  information  concerning  their  religious  belief  and  tra- 
ditions, and  the  system  of  medicine,  as  it  prevails  in  its  purity.  It 
would  be  foreign  to  the  design  of  this  desultory  paper  to  enter  at 
large  upon  the  history  of  creation  as  preserved  by  the  Indians  in 
their  traditions,  the  conflicts  of  the  beneficent  spirit  with  the 
adversary,  and  the  Indian  idea  of  a  future  state.  With  all  these, 

1 1  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  give  the  name  of  this  excellent  man.  now  perhaps  no  more.  In  1861, 
he  lived  and  labored,  with  a  gentleness  and  zeal  worthy  of  the  cause  he  heralded,  as  a  missionary 
among  the  Kalispelm  Indians,  on  the  west  slope  of  the  Rocky  mountains.  Such  devotion  to  mis- 
sionary labor  as  was  his  may  well  challenge  admiration  even  from  those  who  think  him  in  fatal 
error.  His  memory  will  long  be  cherished  by  those  who  knew  the  purity  of  his  character,  his  gene- 
rous catholicity  of  spirit,  and  the  native  and  acquired  graces  of  mind  which  made  him  a  companion 
at  once  charming  and  instructive. 


78  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

the  present  sketch  has  no  further  concern  than  a  mere  statement 
that  medicine  is  based  upon  the  idea  of  an  overruling  and 
all-powerful  Providence,  who  acts  at  IJis  good  pleasure,  through 
human  instruments.  Those  among  Christians  who  entertain  the 
doctrine  of  special  providences  may  find  in  the  untutored  Indian 
a  faith  as  firm  as  theirs  —  not  sharply  defined,  or  understood  by 
the  Indian  himself,  but  inborn  and  ineradicable. 

The  Indian,  being  thoroughly  ignorant  of  all  things  not  con- 
nected with  war  or  the  chase,  is  necessarily  superstitious.  His 
imagination  is  active  —  generally  more  so  than  are  his  reasoning 
powers  —  and  fits  him  for  a  ready  belief  in  the  powers  of  any  able 
mediciner.  On  one  occasion,  Meldram,  a  white  man  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  American  Fur  Company,  found  himself  suddenly 
elevated  to  high  rank  as  a  seer  by  a  foolish  or  petulant  remark. 
He  was  engaged  in  making  a  rude  press  for  baling  furs,  and  had 
got  a  heavy  lever  in  position.  A  large  party  of  Crow  Indians 
who  were  near  at  hand,  considering  his  press  a  marvel  of  me- 
chanical ingenuity,  were  very  inquisitive  as  to  its  uses.  Meldram, 
with  an  assumption  of  severity,  told  them  the  machine  was  snow 
medicine,  and  that  it  would  make  snow  to  fall  until  it  reached 
the  end  of  a  cord  that  dangled  from  the  lever  and  reached  within 
a  yard  of  the  ground.  The  fame  of  so  potent  a  medicine  spread 
rapidly  through  the  Crow  nation.  The  machine  was  visited  by 
hundreds,  and  the  fall  of  snow  anxiously  looked  for  by  the  entire 
tribe.  To  the  awe  of  every  Indian,  and  the  astonishment  of  the 
few  trappers  then  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yellowstone,  the  snow  ac- 
tually reached  the  end  of  the  rope,  and  did  not  during  the  winter 
attain  any  greater  depth.  Meldram  found  greatness  thrust  upon 
him.  He  has  lived  for  more  than  forty  years  among  the  Crows, 
and  when  I  knew  him  was  much  consulted  as  a  medicine  man. 
His  chief  charms,  or  amulets,  were  a  large  bull's-eye  silver  watch, 
and  a  copy  of  Ayer's  Family  Almanac,  in  which  was  displayed  the 
human  body  encircled  by  the  signs  of  the  zodiac. 

The  position  and  ease  attendant  upon  a  reputation  for  medicine 
power  cause  many  unsuccessful  pretenders  to  embrace  the  pro- 
fession ;  and  it  would  seem  strange  that  their  failures  should  not 
have  brought  medicine  into  disrepute.  In  looking  closely  into  this, 


INDIAN  MEDICINE.  79 

a  well  marked  distinction  will  always  be  found  between  medicine 
and  the  medicine-men  —  quite  as  broad  as  is  made  with  us  between 
religion  and  the  preacher.  I  have  seen  would-be  medicine  men 
laughed  at  through  the  camp  —  men  of  reputation  as  warriors, 
and  respected  in  council,  but  whose  forte  was  not  the  reading  of 
dreams  or  the  prediction  of  events.  On  the  other  hand,  I  have 
seen  persons  of  inferior  intellect,  without  courage  on  the  war- 
path or  wisdom  in  the  council,  revered  as  the  channels  through 
which,  in  some  unexplained  manner,  the  Great  Spirit  warned  or 
advised  his  creatures. 

Of  course  it  is  no  purpose  of  this  paper  to  uphold  or  attack 
these  peculiar  ideas.  A  meagre  presentation  of  a  few  facts  not 
generally  known  is  all  that  is  aimed  at.  Whether  the  system  of 
Indian  medicine  be  a  variety  of  mesmerism,  magnetism,  spiritu- 
alism, or  what  not,  others  may  inquire  and  determine.  One  bred 
a  Calvinist,  as  was  the  writer,  may  be  supposed  to  have  viewed 
with  suspicion  the  exhibitions  of  medicine  power  that  almost 
daily  presented  themselves.  And  while,  in  very  numerous  in- 
stances, they  proved  to  be  but  the  impudent  pretensions  of  char- 
latans, it  must  be  conceded,  if  credible  witnesses  are  to  be  believed, 
that  sometimes  there  is  a  power  of  second-sight,  or  something  of 
a  kindred  nature,  which  defies  investigation.  Instances  of  this 
kind  are  of  frequent  occurrence,  and  easily  recalled,  I  venture  to 
say,  by  every  one  familiar  with  the  Indian  in  his  native  state. 
The  higher  powers  claimed  for  medicine  are,  in  general,  doubt- 
fully spoken  of  by  the  Indians.  Kot  that  they  deny  the  possibility 
of  the  power,  but  they  question  the  probability  of  so  signal  a 
mark  of  favor  being  bestowed  on  a  mere  mortal.  Powers  and 
medicine  privileges  of  a  lower  degree  are  more  readily  ac- 
knowledged. An  aged  Indian  of  the  Assinaboin  tribe  is  very 
generally  admitted,  by  his  own  and  neighboring  tribes,  to  have 
been  shown  the  happy  hunting-grounds,  and  conducted  through 
them  and  returned  safely  to  the  camp  of  his  tribe,  by  special  favor 
of  the  Great  Spirit.  He  once  drew  a  map  of  the  Indian  paradise 
for  me,  and  described  its  pleasant  prairies  and  crystal  rivers,  its 
countless  herds  of  fat  buffalo  and  horses,  its  perennial  and  luxu- 
riant grass,  and  other  charms  deaf  to  an  Indian's  heart,  in  a 


80  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

rhapsody  that  was  almost  poetry.  Another,  an  obscure  man  ol 
the  Cathead  Sioux,  is  believed  to  have  seen  the  hole  through 
which  issue  the  herds  of  buffalo  which  the  Great  Spirit  calls  forth 
from  the  centre  of  the  earth  to  feed  his  children. 

Medicine  of  this  degree  is  not  unfavorably  regarded  by  the 
masses ;  but  instances  of  the  highest  grades  are  extremely  rare, 
and  the  claimants  of  such  powers  few  in  number.  The  Black 
Snake  and  the  Kootenai,  before  referred  to,  are,  if  still  alive,  the 
only  instances  with  which  I  am  acquainted  of  admitted  and  well- 
authenticated  powers  so  great  and  incredible.  The  common  use 
of  medicine  is  in  affairs  of  war  and  the  chase.  Here  the  medicine 
man  will  be  found,  in  many  cases,  to  exhibit  a  prescience  truly  as- 
tounding. Without  attempting  a  theory  to  account  for  this,  a 
suggestion  may  be  ventured.  The  Indian  passes  a  life  that  knows 
no  repose.  His  vigilance  is  ever  on  the  alert.  No  hour  of  day 
or  night  is  to  him  an  hour  of  assured  safety.  In  the  course  of 
years,  his  perceptions  and  apprehensions  become  so  acute,  in  the 
presence  of  constant  danger,  as  to  render  him  keenly  and  deli- 
cately sensitive  to  impressions  that  a  civilized  man  could  scarce 
recognize.  The  Indian,  in  other  words,  has  a  development  almost 
like  the  instinct  of  the  fox  or  beaver.  Upon  this  delicate  baro- 
meter, whose  basis  is  physical  fear,  impressions  (moral  or 
physical,  who  shall  say  ?)  act  with  surprising  power.  How  this 
occurs,  no  Indian  will  attempt  to  explain.  Certain  conjurations 
will,  they  maintain,  aid  the  medicine  man  to  receive  impressions ; 
but  how  or  wherefore,  no  one  pretends  to  know.  This  view  of 
minor  medicine  is  the  one  which  will  account  for  many  of  its  mani- 
festations. Whether  sound  or  defective,  we  will  not  contend. 

The  medicine  man  whom  I  knew  best  was  Ma-qub-a-pos  (the 
wolfs  word),  an  ignorant  and  unintellectual  person.  I  knew 
him  perfectly  well.  His  nature  was  simple,  innocent,  and  harm- 
less, devoid  of  cunning,  and  wanting  in  those  fierce  traits  that 
make  up  the  Indian  character.  His  predictions  were  sometimes 
absolutely  astounding.  He  has,  beyond  question,  accurately  de- 
scribed the  persons,  horses,  arms,  and  destination  of  a  party  three 
hundred  miles  distant,  not  one  of  whom  he  had  ever  seen,  and  of 
whose  very  existence  neither  he,  nor  any  one  in  his  camp,  was 
before  apprised. 


INDIAN  MEDICINE.  81 

On  one  occasion,  a  party  of  ten  voyageurs  set  out  from  Fort 
Benton,  the  remotest  post  of  the  American  Fur  Company,  for 
the  purpose  of  finding  the  Kaime,  or  Blood  Band  of  the  Northern 
Blackfeet.  Their  route  lay  almost  due  north,  crossing  the  British 
line  near  the  Chief  mountain  (Nee-na-sta-ko)  and  the  great  Lake 
O-max-een  (two  of  the  grandest  features  of  Rocky  mountain 
scenery,  but  scarce  ever  seen  by  whites),  and  extending  indefi- 
nitely beyond  the  Saskatchewan  and  towards  the  tributaries  of 
the  Coppermine  and  Mackenzie  rivers.  The  expedition  was 
perilous  from  its  commencement,  and  the  danger  increased  with 
each  day's  journey.  The  war-paths,  war-party  fires,  and  similar 
indications  of  the  vicinity  of  hostile  bands,  were  each  day  found 
in  greater  abundance. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  an  experienced  trapper  can, 
at  a  glance,  pronounce  what  tribe  made  a  war-trail  or  a  camp- 
fire.  Indications  which  would  convey  no  meaning  to  the  inex- 
perienced are  conclusive  proofs  to  the  keen-eyed  mountaineer. 
The  track  of  a  foot,  by  a  greater  or  less  turning  out  of  the  toes, 
demonstrates  from  which  side  of  the  mountains  a  party  has  come. 
The  print  of  a  moccasin  in  soft  earth  indicates  the  tribe  of  the 
wearer.  An  arrow-head  or  a  feather  from  a  war-bonnet,  a  scrap 
of  dressed  deer-skin,  or  even  a  chance  fragment  of  jerked  buffalo- 
meat,  furnishes  data  from  which  unerring  conclusions  are  deduced 
with  marvellous  facility. 

The  party  of  adventurers  soon  found  that  they  were  in  the 
thickest  of  the  Cree  war-party  operations,  and  so  full  of  danger 
was  every  day's  travel  that  a  council  was  called,  and  seven  of  the 
ten  turned  back.  The  remaining  three,  more  through  fool- 
hardiness  than  for  any  good  reason,  continued  their  journey, 
until  their  resolution  failed  them,  and  they  too  determined  that, 
after  another  day's  travel  northward,  they  would  hasten  back  to 
their  comrades. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  last  day,  four  young  Indians  were 
seen,  who,  after  a  cautious  approach,  made  the  sign  of  peace,  laid 
down  their  arms,  and  came  forward,  announcing  themselves  to 
be  Blackfeet  of  the  Blood  Band.  They  were  sent  out,  they  said, 
by  Ma-que-a-pos,  to  find  three  whites  mounted  on  horses  of  a  pecu- 
7 


82  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

liar  color,  dressed  in  garments  accurately  described  to  them,  and 
armed  with  weapons  which  they,  without  seeing  them,  minutely 
described.  The  whole  history  of  the  expedition  had  been  de- 
tailed to  them  by  Ma-que-a-pos.  The  purpose  of  the  journey,  the 
personnel  of  the  party,  the  exact  locality  at  which  to  find  the  three 
who  persevered,  had  been  detailed  by  him  with  as  much  fidelity 
as  could  have  been  done  by  one  of  the  whites  themselves.  And 
so  convinced  were  the  Indians  of  the  truth  of  the  old  man's 
medicine,  that  the  four  young  men  were  sent  to  appoint  a  ren- 
dezvous, for  four  days  later,  at  a  spot  a  hundred  miles  distant. 
On  arriving  there,  accompanied  by  the  young  Indians,  the  whites 
found  the  entire  camp  of  Rising  Head,  a  noted  war-chief, 
awaiting  them.  The  objects  of  the  expedition  were  speedily 
accomplished ;  and  the  whites,  after  a  few  days'  rest,  returned  to 
safer  haunts.  The  writer  of  this  paper  was  at  the  head  of  the 
party  of  whites,  and  himself  met  the  Indian  messengers. 

Upon  questioning  the  chief  men  of  the  Indian  camp,  many  of 
whom  afterwards  became  my  warm  personal  friends,  and  one  of 
them  my  adopted  brother,  no  suspicion  of  the  facts,  as  narrated, 
could  be  sustained.  Ma-que-a-pos  could  give  no  explanation 
beyond  the  general  one,  that  he  "  saw  us  coming,  and  heard  us 
talk  on  our  journey."  He  had  not,  during  that  time,  been  absent 
from  the  Indian  camp. 

A  subsequent  intimate  acquaintance  with  Ma-que-a-pos  dis- 
closed a  remarkable  medicine  faculty  as  accurate  as  it  was  inex- 
plicable. He  was  tested  in  every  way,  and  almost  always  stood 
the  ordeal  successfully.  Yet  he  never  claimed  that  the  gift  en- 
titled him  to  any  peculiar  regard,  except  as  the  instrument  of  a 
power  whose  operations  he  did  not  pretend  to  understand.  He 
had  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  Catholic  worship,  distorted 
and  intermixed  with  the  wild  theogony  of  the  red  man.  He 
would  talk  with  passionate  devotion  of  the  Mother  of  God,  and 
in  the  same  breath  tell  how  the  Great  Spirit  restrains  the  rain 
spirits  from  drowning  the  world,  by  tying  them  with  the  rain- 
bow. I  have  often  seen  him  make  the  sign  of  the  cross,  while 
he  recounted,  in  all  the  soberness  of  implicit  belief,  how  the  old 
man  (the  god  of  the  Blackfeet)  formed  the  human  race  from  the 


INDIAN  MEDICINE.  83 

mud  of  the  Missouri  —  how  he  experimented  before  he  adopted 
the  human  frame,  as  we  now  have  it  —  how  he  placed  his  crea- 
tures in  an  isolated  park  far  to  the  north,  and  there  taught  them 
the  rude  arts  of  Indian  life — how  he  staked  the  Indians  on  a 
desperate  game  of  chance  with  the  spirit  of  evil  —  and  how  the 
whites  are  now  his  peculiar  care.  Ma-que-a-pos's  faith  could 
hardly  stand  the  test  of  any  religious  creed.  Yet  it  must  be 
said  for  him,  that  his  simplicity  and  innocence  of  life  might  be 
a  model  for  many,  better  instructed  than  he. 

The  wilder  tribes  are  accustomed  to  certain  observances  which 
are  generally  termed  the  tribe-medicine.  Their  leading  men 
inculcate  them  with  great  care  —  perhaps  to  perpetuate  unity  of 
tradition  and  purpose.  In  the  arrangement  of  tribe-medicine, 
trivial  observances  are  frequently  intermixed  with  very  serious 
doctrines.  Thus,  the  grand  war-council  of  the  Dakotah  confed- 
eracy, comprising  thirteen  tribes  of  Sioux,  and  more  than  seven- 
teen thousand  warriors,  many  years  since  promulgated  a  national 
medicine,  prescribing  a  red  stone  pipe  with  an  ashen  stem  for 
all  council  purposes,  and  (herein  was  the  true  point)  an  eternal 
hostility  to  the  whites.  The  prediction  may  be  safely  ventured, 
that  every  Sioux  will  preserve  this  medicine  until  the  nation  shall 
cease  to  exist.  To  it  may  be  traced  the  recent  Indian  war  that 
devastated  Minnesota;  and  there  cannot,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
and  of  the  American  Indian  especially,  be  a  peace  kept  in  good 
faith  until  the  confederacy  of  the  Dakotah  is  in  effect  destroyed. 

The  Crows,  or  Upsaraukas,  will  not  smoke  in  council,  unless 
the  pipe  is  lighted  with  a  coal  of  buffalo  chip,  and  the  bowl  rested 
on  a  fragment  of  the  same  substance.  Their  chief  men  have  for 
a  great  while  endeavored  to  engraft  teetotalism  upon  their  national 
medicine,  and  have  succeeded  better  than  the  Indian  character 
would  have  seemed  to  promise. 

Among  the  Flat-Heads  female  chastity  is  a  national  medicine. 
"With  the  Mandans,  friendship  for  the  whites  is  supposed  to  be 
the  source  of  national  and  individual  advantage. 

Besides  the  varieties  of  medicine  already  alluded  to,  there  are 
in  use  charms  of  almost  every  kind.  When  game  is  scarce, 
medicine  is  made  to  call  back  the  buffalo.  The  man  in  the  sun 


84  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

is  invoked  for  fair  weather,  for  success  in  war  or  chase,  and  for 
a  cure  of  wounds.  The  spirits  of  the  dead  are  appeased  by  medi- 
cine songs  and  offerings.  The  curiosity  of  some  may  be  attracted 
by  the  following  rude  and  literal  translation  of  the  song  of  a 
Blackfoot  woman  to  the  spirit  of  her  son,  who  was  killed  on  his 
first  war-party.  The  words  were  written  down  at  the  time,  and 
are  not  in  any  respect  changed  or  smoothed. 

"  O  my  son,  farewell  ! 
You  have  gone  beyond  the  great  river, 
Your  spirit  is  on  the  other  side  of  the  sand  buttes, 
I  will  not  see  you  for  a  hundred  winters  ; 
You  will  scalp  the  enemy  in  the  green  prairie, 
Beyond  the  great  river. 
When  the  warriors  of  the  Blackfeet  meet, 
When  they  smoke  the  medicine-pipe  and  dance  the  war-dance, 
They  will  ask,  '  Where  is  Isthumaka  ?  — 
Where  is  the  bravest  of  the  Mannikappi  ? ' 
He  fell  on  the  war-path. 

Mai-ram-bo,  mai-ram-bo. 

"  Many  scalps  will  be  taken  for  your  death ; 
The  Crows  will  lose  many  horses : 
Their  women  weep  for  their  braves, 
They  will  curse  the  spirit  of  Isthumaka. 
Oh  my  son !  I  will  come  to  you 
And  make  moccasins  for  the  war-path, 
As  I  did  when  you  struck  the  lodge 
Of  the  Horse  Guard  with  the  tomahawk. 
Farewell,  my  son  !  I  will  see  you 
Beyond  the  broad  river. 

Mai-ram-bo,  mai-rambo,"  etc.,  etc. 

Sung  in  a  plaintive  minor  key,  and  in  a  wild,  irregular  rhythm, 
the  dirge  was  far  more  impressive  than  the  words  would  indicate. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  whites,  who  consort  much  with 
the  ruder  tribes  of  Indians,  imbibe,  to  a  considerable  degree, 
their  veneration  for  medicine.  The  old  trappers  and  voyageurs 
are,  almost  without  exception,  observers  of  omens  and  dreamers 
of  dreams.  They  claim  that  medicine  is  a  faculty  which  can  in 
some  degree  be  cultivated,  and  aspire  to  its  possession  as  eagerly 
as  does  the  Indian.  Sometimes  they  acquire  a  reputation  that 
is  in  many  ways  beneficial  to  them. 

As  before  said,  it  is  no  object  of  this  paper  to  defend  or  com- 


INDIAN  MEDICINE.  85 

bat  the  Indian  notion  of  medicine.  Such  a  system  exists  as  a 
fact ;  and  whoever  writes  upon  American  Demonology  will  find 
many  fruitful  topics  of  investigation  in  the  daily  life  of  the  un- 
contaminated  Indian.  There  may  be  nothing  of  truth  in  the 
supposed  prediction  by  Tecumseh,  that  Tuckabatch.ee  would  be 
destroyed  by  an  earthquake  on  a  day  which  he  named  ;  the  gifts 
of  the  prophet  may  be  overstated  in  the  traditions  that  yet 
linger  in  Kentucky  and  Indiana;  the  descent  of  the  Mandans 
from  Prince  Madoc  and  his  adventurous  Welchmen,  and  the 
consideration  accorded  them  on  that  account,  may  very  possibly 
be  altogether  fanciful ;  but  whoever  will  take  the  trouble  to  in- 
vestigate will  find  in  the  real  Indian  a  faith,  and  occasionally  a 
power,  that  quite  equal  the  faculties ,  claimed  by  our  civilized 
clairvoyants,  and  will  approach  an  untrodden  path  of  curious,  if 
not  altogether  useful  research. 


NARRATIVE  OF  THE  LONG 

BY  JOHN  WATSON,  FATHEK  AND  SON. 

[Communicated  to  the  Historical  Committee  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  Philadel- 
phia, in  1822.] 

William  Penn  with  a  number  of  settlers  carne  to  Pennsylvania 
in  the  year  1682.  His  first  care  was  to  establish  a  good  under- 
standing with  the  natives  by  personal  sociability  and  friendly 
acts  of  hospitality  and  generosity,  and  regarding  them  as  men, 
whose  rights  were  not  to  be  invaded  either  by  force  or  fraud. 
He  therefore  purchased  of  them  a  tract  of  land,  for  a  price  agreed 
upon,  of  the  following  description,  taken  from  the  original  deed : 

"  Beginning  at  a  white  oak  in  the  land  now  in  the  tenure  of 
John  Wood,  and  by  him  called  the  Grey  Stones,  over  against 
the  falls  of  Delaware  river,  and  from  thence  up  the  river  side  to 
a  corner  spruce  tree,  marked  with  the  letter  P,  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountains  (this  tree  stood  140  perches  above  the  mouth  of  Baker's 
creek)  —  and  from  the  said  tree  along  by  the  ledge  or  foot  of  the 
mountains  west  southwest  to  a  corner  white  oak,  marked  with 
the  letter  P  (on  land  now  Benjamin  Hampton's)  —  standing  by 
the  Indian  path  that  leads  to  an  Indian  town  called  Playwicky 
and  near  the  head  of  a  creek  called  Towsisnick,  and  from  thence 
westward  to  the  creek  called  Neshaminah  (this'line  crosses  where 
the  Newtown  road  now  is),  at  the  old  chestnut  tree  below  Doctor 
Isaac  Chapman's  lane  end  and  along  by  the  said  Neshaminah  to 
the  river  Delaware,  alias  Makerickhickon,  and  so  bounded  by  the 
said  main  river,  to  the  first  mentioned  white  oak  in  John  Wood's 
land  (above  Morrisville)  with  the  several  islands  in  the  river," 
etc.  Dated  15th  July,  1682. 

This  purchase  was  limited  by  previous  agreement  to  extend  as 
far  up  the  river  from  the  mouth  of  Neshamiuah  as  a  man  might 
walk  in  a  day  and  a  half —  which  tradition  has  said  to  have  been 
executed  by  William  Penn  himself,  on  foot,  with  several  of  his 


1  Reprinted  from  Hazard' 't  Register  of  Pennsylvania  (Philadelphia),  for  October  2, 1830. 


NARRATIVE  OF  THE  LONG  WALK.  87 

friends,  and  a  number  of  Indian  chiefs.  It  was  said  by  the  old 
people  that  they  walked  leisurely,  after  the  Indian  manner,  sit- 
ting down  sometimes  to  smoke  their  pipes,  to  eat  biscuit  and 
cheese,  and  drink  a  bottle  of  wine.  It  is  certain  they  arrived  at 
the  spruce  tree  in  a  day  and  a  half,  the  whole  distance  rather 
less  than  thirty  miles  ;  and  the  northwest  boundary  being  traced 
out  arid  marked  on  many  trees  with  the  letter  P,  for  Penn ;  and 
all  parties  being  well  satisfied,  the  above  deed  was  signed  by  the 
Indian  sachems  with  their  respective  hieroglyphics. 

It  is  certain  that  William  Penn  did  not  arrive  in  Pennsylvania 
for  several  months  after  the  date  of  the  above  deed.  We  are 
therefore  left  to  conjecture  to  account  for  the  inconsistency  ;  the 
business  might  have  been  done  in  the  next  year,  and  the  deed 
dated  back  for  some  reason  not  now  known,  perhaps  to  cover 
some  settlement  already  made ;  there  might  be  an  error  in  the 
date  of  the  original  deed  or  in  taking  the  copy. 

Four  years  after  another  purchase  was  made  of  the  natives, 
the  description  of  which  is  contained  in  the  following  extract 
from  the  deed  :  "  Beginning  at  the  before  mentioned  spruce  tree 
(says  the  grant)  about  Makerickhitton  (Baker's  creek)  from  thence 
running  along  the  ledge  or  foot  of  the  mountains  west  southwest 
to  a  corner  white  oak  marked  with  the  letter  P,  standing  by  an 
Indian  path  that  leadeth  to  an  Indian  town  called  Playwicky ; 
and  from  thence  extending  westward  to  Neshaminah  creek,  from 
which  line  the  said  tract  or  tracts  hereby  granted  doth  extend 
itself  as  far  into  the  woods  as  a  man  can  go  in  a  day  and  a  half; 
bounded  on  the  westerly  side  by  the  creek  called  Neshaminah 
or  the  most  westerly  branch  thereof  as  far  as  the  said  branch 
doth  extend,  and  from  thence  by  a  line  to  the  utmost  extent  of 
the  one  and  a  half  day's  journey,  and  from  thence  by  a  line  to 
the  aforesaid  river  Delaware,  and  from  thence  down  the  several 
courses  of  the  said  river  to  the  first  mentioned  spruce  tree." 
Dated  the  28th  of  August,  1686. 

The  deed  was  executed  by  the  parties,  and  as  the  Delaware 
and  the  Neshaminah  were  to  be  the  northeast  and  southwest 
bounds,  most  of  the  lands  in  Buckingham,  Solebury,  etc.,  were 
located,  and  as  the  proprietary  was  much  engaged  in  other  busi- 


88  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

ness,  the  walk  was  not  made  when  he  went  to  England,  and 
although  it  is  evident  from  the  deed  that  the  place  of  beginning 
must  be  the  west  corner  of  the  first  purchase  on  the  Neshaminali, 
yet  the  Indians  always  insisted  on  going  up  the  Delaware  from 
the  spruce  tree  —  and  probably  for  this  reason,  nothing  was  done 
in  the  business  for  six  years. 

In  the  year  1692  a  white  man  living  at  Newtown  and  Cornelius 
Spring,  a  Delaware  Indian,  accompanied  by  several  Indians  and 
white  people,  undertook  and  performed  the  walk  in  the  Indian 
manner  ;  but  by  what  authority  or  by  whose  direction  is  not  now 
known.  They  started  from  the  spruce  tree,  and  walked  up  the 
river;  the  Indians  jumped  over  all  the  streams  of  water  until 
they  came  to  the  Tohickon,  which  they  positively  refused  to 
cross,  and  therefore  they  proceeded  up  the  creek  on  the  south 
side  to  its  source,  and  then  turning  to  the  left,  they  fell  in  with 
the  Swamp  creek,  and  going  down  it  a  small  distance,  it  was 
noon  on  the  second  day,  or  a  day  and  a  half  from  the  time  of 
setting  out.  To  close  the  survey  it  was  proposed  to  go  from  there 
to  the  source  of  the  west  branch  of  Neshaminah  (so  called),  thence 
down  the  creek  to  the  west  corner  of  the  first  purchase,  and  thence 
to  the  spruce  tree,  the  place  of  beginning.  These  bounds  would 
have  included  a  tract  of  land  rather  larger  than  the  first  purchase, 
and  no  doubt  would  have  been  satisfactory  to  the  Indians.  It 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  a  final  settlement,  or  that  any  thing 
was  done  relative  to  the  subject  except  talk  about  it,  for  forty- 
three  years,  in  which  time  a  large  tract  was  sold  to  a  company 
at  Durham,  a  furnace  and  forges  were  erected  there,  and  numer- 
ous scattered  settlements  made  on  the  frontiers  as  far  back  as  the 
Lehigh  hills.  The  chief  settlements  of  the  Indians  at  the  time 
were  in  the  forks  of  the  Delaware  and  Lehigh,  below  and  beyond 
the  Blue  mountains.  But  in  the  summer  season  many  families 
migrated  in  their  way,  and  cabined  among  the  white  people  in 
different  places,  as  far  down  as  Pennsbury  manor,  where  they 
long  retained  a  permanent  residence  on  sufferance,  and  although 
a  general  harmony  subsisted  between  the  natives  and  the  white 
people,  yet  they  showed  a  dislike  to  the  surveys  and  settlements 
that  were  every  year  extending  further  back  in  the  woods,  and 


NARRATIVE  OF  THE  LONG  WALK.  89 

as  they  presumed  far  beyond  the  proper  limits  of  the  land  they 
had  sold. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  1735,  a  surveyor,  employed  for  the 
purpose,  run  and  measured  a  line  beginning  where  the  northwest 
boundary  of  the  first  purchase  crossed  the  Durham  road,  and 
thence  northwesterly  on  the  said  road  to  somewhere  about  the 
Haycock,  and  then  turned  more  to  the  left  through  the  woods  to 
the  Lehigh  gap  in  the  Blue  mountain,  blazing  the  southeast 
side  of  the  trees  and  saplings  in  the  woods  within  sight  of  each 
other.  At  some  time  before  this  period,  a  treaty  or  conference 
had  been  held  with  some  of  the  Indians,  who  Teedyuscung  at 
the  treaty  of  1756  called  pretenders,  and  said,  as  there  was  no  king 
presumed  to  do  national  business  without  proper  authority.  At 
this  conference  (perhaps  in  1734)  both  parties  agreed,  by  com- 
promise, to  alter  the  day  and  an  half's  walk  to  one  day,  and  to  go 
a  northwest  course.  The  Indians  probably  presuming  that  at 
twenty  miles  a  day,  the  average  of  the  preceding  walks,  it  would  not 
extend  further  back  than  the  hills  below  Durham ;  accordingly  a 
new  instrument,  called  a  release,  was  made  probably  for  a  trifling 
additional  present  of  a  few  goods.  Preparation  was  then  made 
for  a  walk  to  be  performed  under  the  direction  of  the  sheriff  of 
Bucks  county,  two  men  of  uncommon  abilities  for  fast  walking 
were  employed  for  the  purpose  at  five  pounds  each,  or  an  equi- 
valent in  land ;  and  the  Indians  being  notified,  a  number  of  them 
attended,  also  the  sheriff  with  his  sutlers,  and  several  white  men 
on  horseback.  About  the  12th  of  September,  1735,  at  sunrise, 
the  whole  company  started  from  the  old  chestnut  tree  above  men- 
tioned, below  Wrightstown  meeting  house,  or  near  there.  The 
men  walked  moderately  at  first,  but  soon  quickened  their  march, 
but  the  Indians  called  to  them  to  walk,  and  not  run  ;  and  the  re- 
monstrances being  frequently  repeated  without  effect,  the  Indians 
and  a  number  of  white  people  who  had  collected  to  see  them  set 
off,  left  them  in  ill  humor  at  such  conduct,  except  one  Indian 
who  continued  with  them  during  the  day.  The  two  walkers 
pursued  their  course,  first  on  the  Durham  road  and  then  by  the 
line  of  marked  trees,  to  the  Blue  mountain,  and  going  through 
the  gap  on  a  level  road,  they  pursued  their  way  up  the  river,  and 


90  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

at  sunset  the  walkers  arrived  on  a  spur  of  the  second,  or  Broad  moun- 
tain, upwards  of  sixty  miles  from  where  they  had  set  out  in  the 
morning,  where  they  piled  up  a  large  heap  of  stones,  and  marked  a 
number  of  trees  around  it.  They  passed  the  night  in  serious 
apprehensions,  as  their  Indian  companion  left  them  and  went  to 
an  Indian  cantico  not  far  off,  perhaps  the  same  company  that  had  left 
them  in  the  morning,  who  shouted  and  hallooed  a  great  part  of  the 
night.  But  they  were  happily  favored  to  return  the  next  day  in 
safety  to  their  respective  homes.  The  northwest  boundary  was 
afterwards  run  on  the  Pocony,  and  to  the  river  at  the  short  bend, 
and  down  the  courses  of  the  Delaware,  by  a  measurement  then 
made  more  than  one  hundred  miles  to  the  spruce  tree. 

This  scandalous  transaction  was  the  subject  of  much  conversa- 
tion, and  an  apprehension  prevailed,  that  it  would  sometime 
produce  serious  consequences. 

Surveyors  were  sent  for  six  years  successively  to  locate  large 
tracts  of  land  in  the  forks,  even  among  the  Indian  towns.  They 
therefore  procured  letters  to  be  sent  to  Jeremiah  Langhorne  and 
the  governor,  advising  them  to  remove  the  settlers  or  they  would 
take  up  the  hatchet  against  them.  The  affair  was  now  become 
serious,  and  therefore  a  deep  laid  scheme  was  contrived  and 
carried  into  execution. 

The  chiefs  and  warriors  of  the  Six  Nations  were  to  attend  a 
treaty  at  Philadelphia  in  June,  1742.  The  Delawares,  etc.,  were 
also  invited  to  attend  at  the  same  time,  which  they  did,  making 
nearly  one  hundred  Indians  in  the  whole.  And  as  there  was  at 
that  time  a  prospect  of  a  war  between  England  and  France,  the 
Six  Nations  were  courted  to  join  in  the  contest  on  the  side  of  the 
English.  The  record  says  that  handsome  dinners  were  provided, 
and  the  health  of  King  George,  the  proprietaries,  the  governor, 
etc.,  were  drank  in  high  good  humor,  and  at  a  certain  time,  at 
one  of  these  sociable  canticoes,  the  subject  of  the  walk  was  in- 
troduced, and  the  several  deeds  and  writings  shown  and  explained 
by  way  of  appeal  to  the  high  authority  of  the  Six  Nations,  against 
the  conduct  of  their  cousins  the  Delawares,  etc.  In  a  private 
council  among  themselves,  these  mighty  Csesars  of  the  lakes  and 
woods  determined  to  chastise  and  humble  their  dependents,  which 


NARRATIVE  or  THE  LONG  WALK.  91 

they  did  in  the  following  decisive  manner,  at  a  council  at  Phila- 
delphia. Present  the  governor  and  his  council,  Canassatigo, 
Schickealamy  and  sundry  chiefs  of  the  Six  Nations,  Sassoonan, 
and  Delawarcs,  Nuttimus  and  Fork  Indians ;  Conrad  Weiser, 
Pisquitoman,  and  Cornelius  Spring,  interpreters. 

Canassatigo,  on  behalf  of  the  Six  Nations,  said  :  "  Brethren, 
the  governor  and  council.  The  other  day  you  informed  us  of  the 
misbehavior  of  our  brethren  the  Delawares,  with  respect  to  their 
continuing  to  claim,  and  refusing  to  remove  from  some  land  on 
the  river  Delaware,  notwithstanding  their  ancestors  had  sold  it 
by  a  deed  under  their  hands  and  seals  to  the  proprietaries,  for  a 
valuable  consideration  upwards  of  fifty  years  ago  ;  and  notwith- 
standing that  they  themselves  had years  ago,  after  a  long 

and  full  examination,  ratified  that  deed  of  their  ancestors,  and 
given  a  fresh  one  under  their  hands  and  seals;  and  then  you  re- 
quested us  to  remove  them,  enforcing  your  request  with  a  string 
of  wampum ;  afterwards  you  laid  on  the  table  our  own  letters 
by  Conrad  Weiser,  some  of  our  cousin's  letters,  and  the  several 
writings,  with  a  draft  of  the  land  in  dispute  to  prove  the  charge 
against  our  cousins.  "We  now  tell  you,  we  have  perused  all 
these  several  papers,  we  see  with  our  own  eyes  that  they  have 
been  a  very  unruly  people,  and  are  altogether  in  the  wrong  in 
their  dealings  with  you.  We  have  concluded  to  remove  them,  and 
oblige  them  to  go  over  the  river  Delaware,  and  quit  all  claim  to 
any  lands  on  this  side  for  the  future,  since  they  have  received 
pay  for  them ,  and  it  has  gone  through  their  guts  long  ago.  To  con- 
firm you  that  we  will  see  your  request  executed,  we  lay  down 
this  string  of  wampum  in  return  for  yours." 

Then  turning  to  the  Delawares,  holding  a  belt  of  wampum  in 
his  hand,  spoke  to  them  as  follows :  "  Cousins  —  let  this  belt  of 
wampum  serve  to  chastise  you ;  you  ought  to  be  taken  by  the 
hair  of  the  head,  and  shaken  severely  till  you  recover  your  senses 
and  become  sober.  You  don't  know  what  ground  you  stand  on, 
nor  what  you  are  doing.  Our  brother  Onas's  cause  is  very  just 
and  plain,  and  his  intentions  to  preserve  friendship.  On  the 
other  hand,  your  cause  is  bad ;  your  hearts  are  far  from  being 
upright,  and  you  are  maliciously  bent  to  break  the  chain  of 


92  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

friendship  with  our  brother  Onas  and  his  people.  We  have  seen 
with  our  own  eyes  a  deed  signed  by  nine  of  your  ancestors,  above 
fifty  years  ago,  for  this  very  land,  and  a  release  signed  not  many 
years  ago  by  some  of  yourselves  and  chiefs,  now  living,  to  the 
number  of  fifteen  or  upwards.  But  how  came  you,  to  take  upon 
you  to  sell  land  at  all  ?  We  conquered  you,  we  made  women  of 
you  — you  know  you  are  women,  and  can  no  more  sell  land  than 
women.  Nor  is  it  fit  you  should  have  the  power  to  sell  land, 
since  you  abuse  it.  This  land  that  you  claim  is  gone  through 
your  guts  ;  you  have  been  furnished  with  clothes,  meat  and  drink, 
by  the  goods  paid  you  for  it,  and  now  you  want  it  again  like 
children,  as  you  are.  But  what  makes  you  sell  land  in  the  dark? 
Did  you  ever  tell  us  you  had  sold  this  land  ?  Did  we  ever  receive 
any  part,  even  the  value  of  a  pipe  shank,  from  you  for  it  ?  You 
have  told  us  a  blind  story,  that  you  sent  a  messenger  to  us, 
to  inform  us  of  the  sale  ;  but  he  never  came  among  us,  nor  we 
never  heard  any  thing  about  it.  This  is  acting  in  the  dark ;  and 
very  different  from  the  conduct  of  our  Six  Nations  on  such  occa- 
sions. They  give  public  notice,  and  invite  all  the  Indians  of 
their  united  nations,  and  give  them  all  a  share  of  the  presents 
they  receive  for  their  lands ;  this  is  the  behavior  of  the  wise, 
united  nations  ;  but  we  find  you  are  none  of  our  blood,  you  act 
a  dishonest  part,  not  only  in  this,  but  in  other  matters,  your  ears 
are  ever  open  to  slanderous  reports  about  our  brethren ;  you 
receive  them  with  greediness,  and  for  all  these  reasons  we  charge 
you  to  remove  instantly.  We  don't  give  you  the  liberty  to  think 
about  it,  you  are  women.  Take  the  advice  of  a  wise  man  and 
remove  immediately ;  you  may  return  to  the  other  side  of  the 
Delaware,  where  you  came  from  (Minisinks).  But  we  do  not 
know  whether,  considering  how  you  have  demeaned  yourselves, 
you  will  be  permitted  to  live  there  or  whether  you  have  not 
swallowed  that  land  down  your  throats,  as  well  as  the  land  on 
this  side ;  we  therefore  assign  you  two  places  to  go,  Wyoming 
or  Shamokin ;  you  may  go  to  either  of  those  places,  and  then 
we  shall  have  you  more  under  our  eye,  and  shall  see  how  you 
behave,  and  deliberate,  but  remove  away  and  take  this  belt  of 
wampum." 


NARRATIVE  OF  THE  LONG  WALK.  93 

This  being  interpreted  by  Conrad  Weiser  into  English,  and  by 
Cornelius  Spring  into  the  Delaware  language,  Canassatigo,  taking 
a  string  of  wampum,  added  further. 

"  After  our  reproof  and  absolute  order  to  depart  from  the  land, 
you  are  to  take  notice  what  we  have  further  to  say :  this  string 
of  wampum  serves  to  forbid  you,  your  children  and  grand  children 
to  the  latest  posterity,  for  ever  meddling  in  land  affairs ;  neither 
you,  nor  any  that  shall  descend  from  you  are  ever  hereafter  to 
presume  to  sell  any  lands,  for  which  purpose  you  are  to  preserve 
this  string  in  memory  of  what  your  uncles  have  this  day  given 
you  in  charge.  We  have  some  other  business  to  transact  with 
our  brethren,  therefore  depart  the  council,  and  consider  what  has 
been  said  to  you." 

When  this  terrible  sentence  was  ended,  it  is  said  that  the  un- 
feeling political  philosopher  walked  forward,  and  taking  strong 
hold  of  the  long  hair  of  the  king  of  the  Delawares,  he  led  him  to 
the  door,  and  forcibly  sent  him  out  of  the  room,  and  stood  there, 
while  all  the  trembling  inferiors  followed  him :  he  then  walked 
back  again  to  his  place  like  another  Cato,  and  calmly  proceeded 
to  another  subject,  as  if  nothing  of  the  kind  had  happened.  The 
poor  fellows,  in  great  and  silent  grief,  went  directly  home,  collected' 
their  families  and  goods,  and  burning  their  cabins,  to  signify  they 
were  never  to  return,  marched  reluctantly  to  their  new  home 
beyond  the  Susquehanna. 

This  shameful  imposition  was  equally  reprobated  by  all  dis- 
tinguished and  candid  men  in  the  province,  and  it  was  seriously 
apprehended  that  mischief  would  sometime  grow  out  of  it.  But 
no  doubt  there  were  some  land  speculators,  and  those  who  had 
conducted  the  business  to  such  an  issue,  who  enjoyed  the  triumph 
with  unfeeling  satisfaction.  Some  families  of  those  Indians  con- 
tinued to  come  down  every  summer  and  cabin  in  the  woods 
among  their  former  friends,  and  go  back  in  the  fall.  But  when 
war  began  between  England  and  France  in  1754,  and  Washington 
and  Braddock  were  successively  defeated,  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
that  aggressions  upon  Indian  rights  by  force  and  fraud,  and  in 
general  the  extension  of  settlements  by  the  whites,  became  popular 
subjects  of  inquiry  and  explanation,  at  their  great  council  fires ; 


94  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

even  the  history  of  the  running  walk  might  then  be  patiently 
listened  to.  And  it  is  said  that  leave  was  given  by  the  Six  Nations, 
to  their  cousins  the  Delawares,  Shawanees,  etc.,  to  strike  the  white 
people  living  on  the  lands  they  had  been  wronged  out  of.  There- 
fore they  immediately  fell  upon  the  back  inhabitants  of  North- 
ampton county,  in  all  the  inhuman  and  cruel  manner  of  Indian 
warfare,  burning  houses  and  barns,  killing,  scalping,  and  taking 
many  women  and  children  into  captivity;  and  these  terrible  de- 
predations continued  for  about  eighteen  months.  And  strange 
as  it  may  now  appear  to  many  in  retrospect,  notwithstanding  the 
evident  cause  and  origin  of  the  war,  a  reward  of  £100  was  offered 
by  the  governor  in  the  public  papers,  for  the  head  of  Captain 
Jacobs,  and  £50  for  the  head  of  Captain  Shingask,  two  Indian 
warriors.  In  this  time  of  great  public  distress,  there  was  much 
conversation  on  the  subject;  and  as  there  could  be  no  doubt  but 
that  it  was  occasioned  by  the  imposition  of  the  walk,  it  was  pro- 
posed to  try  by  way  of  experiment,  how  far  it  would  have  ex- 
tended if  executed  according  to  the  deed.  Therefore  in  the  month 
called  June,  1756,  John  Heston  and  Joseph  Smith  (tavern  keeper\ 
began  to  walk  at  the  high  rocks  on  the  Neshaminah  creek  in 
Wrightstown,  about  a  mile  below  the  bridge,  thence  up  the 
branch  north  of  John  "Wilkinson's  and  up  the  several  courses  of 
the  creek  to  the  head  at  Richard  Thomas's ;  thence  followed  the 
county  line  to  Mayer's  mill  on  Perkioming,  then  crossing  the 
Swamp  creek,  four  miles  from  the  swamp,  continued  west  to 
Jacob  Bonduman's  by  the  main  branch  of  Perkioming,  then  west 
three  miles  into  Philadelphia  county,  and  from  thence  continued 
their  course  into  the  new  Coshoppen  about  three  miles  into  Berks 
county,  and  four  from  Bucks  county,  on  the  west  side  of  a  hill, 
near  a  heap  of  rocks. 

Some  friendly  Indians  visited  Philadelphia  and  on  conversing 
freely  with  them,  and  the  supposed  cause  of  the  war  being  ex- 
plained, a  prospect  opened  that  a  peace  might  be  obtained,  if 
proper  measures  were  pursued  for  that  purpose.  Therefore  a 
number  of  Friends  or  Quakers  united  in  friendly  association  for 
regaining  and  preserving  peace  with  the  Indians  by  pacific 
measures.  Many  of  the  members  of  this  association,  with  the 


NARRATIVE  OF  THE  LONG  WALK.  95 

free  concurrence  of  the  governors,  Morris  and  Denny,  attended 
divers  conferences  and  treaties  at  Philadelphia  and  Easton,  in 
which  their  presence,  and  the  remembrance  of  the  fair  deal- 
ings of  William  Penn  with  their  forefathers  were  of  essen- 
tial service  towards  procuring  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  and  finally 
the  settlement  of  peace.  Governor  Hardy  of  New  York  and 
Sir  William  Johnson,  and  Christian  Frederick  Post,  one  of  the 
Moravian  brethren,  afforded  their  advice  and  assistance,  in  favor 
of  peace. 

Through  the  interposition  of  some  persons  in  Philadelphia,  also 
of  General  Johnson  and  others,  conferences  were  held  at  Phila- 
delphia and  Easton  with  the  Indians ;  and  at  the  latter  place, 
November  13th,  1756,  Governor  Denny  enquired  of  Teedyuscung, 
king  of  the  Delawares,  and  agent  of  the  Six  Nations,  why  the 
Indians  struck  the  white  people,  and  what  grievances  they  had 
suffered,  he  answered: 

"Brother  —  You  have  not  so  much  knowledge  of  things  done 
in  this  country,  as  others  who  have  lived  longer  in  it,  being  lately 
come  over  to  us.  I  have  not  far  to  go  for  an  instance  ;  this  very 
land  that  is  under  me  (stamping  his  foot  on  the  floor)  was  my 
land  and  inheritance,  and  is  taken  from  me  by  fraud;  when  I 
say  this  ground  I  mean  all  the  land  lying  between  Tohickon 
creek  and  Wyoming  on  the  Susquehanna.  When  I  have  sold 
lands  fairly  I  look  upon  them  as  fairly  sold.  A  bargain  is  a 
bargain.  Though  I  have  had  nothing  for  the  land  I  have  sold, 
but  broken  pipes  and  such  trifles,  yet  when  I  have  sold  them, 
even  for  such  trifles,  I  look  upon  the  bargain  to  be  good.  Yet  I 
think  I  should  not  be  ill  used  on  that  account  by  those  very 
people  who  have  had  the  advantage  in  their  purchases  nor  be 
called  a  fool  for  it.  Indians  are  not  such  fools  as  not  to  know 
when  they  are  imposed  upon  or  not  to  bear  it  in  remembrance." 

The  governor  asked  him  what  he  meant  by  fraud  in  relation 
to  the  sale  of  lands  ?  He  answered  :  "  All  the  land,  extending 
from  Tohickon  over  the  great  mountains  to  Wyoming  has  been 
taken  from  me  by  fraud ;  for  when  I  had  agreed  to  sell  the  land 
to  the  old  proprietary  by  the  course  of  the  river,  the  young  pro- 
prietary came  and  got  it  run  by  a  straight  course,  by  the  compass, 


96  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

and  by  that  means  took  in  double  (he  might  have  said  five  times) 
the  quantity  intended  to  be  sold." 

Conrad  Weiser,  the  interpreter,  and  Richard  Peters,  Esq., 
being  asked  what  they  knew  about  the  subject,  they  agreed  in 
substance,  that  they  had  heard  of  the  Indians'  uneasiness,  but  re- 
ferred to  the  final  settlement  made  of  the  dispute  by  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Six  Nations  at  the  treaty  at  Philadelphia  in  1742 ; 
but  when  Peters  came  out  of  the  council  he  said  the  walk  was 
dishonorable,  and  could  not  be  defended,  and  therefore  it  was 
agreed  to  make  the  Indians  a  present  speedily,  on  that  account, 
which  was  afterwards  done  accordingly,  which  in  common  ac- 
ceptation goes  to  prove  which  of  the  parties  had  been  in  the 
wrong. 

In  consequence  of  Teedyuscung's  complaint,  that  the  Indians 
had  been  cheated  out  of  their  land  by  the  walk,  some  of  the 
members  of  the  Friendly  Association  above  mentioned  applied 
to  the  governor's  secretary  for  leave  to  search  the  Provincial 
Records  relative  to  the  subject,  which  he  refused  to  admit,  although 
they  were  immediately  interested  in  the  Indian  claim  being  ex- 
tinguished on  land  they  had  purchased  agreeably  to  the  pro- 
prietary's agreement  with  the  first  settlers. 

There  may  be  some  small  errors  in  the  foregoing  narrative, 
but  it  is  presumed  the  principal  facts  are  correctly  stated  as  they 
have  been  taken  from  original  Indian  treaties  and  from  copies 
and  notes,  made  by  John  Watson,  surveyor,  and  in  some  minor 
parts  derived  by  oral  tradition,  directly  received  from  persons 
who  were  living  at  the  time  of  the  long  walk,  and  such  as  had  the 
best  opportunities  of  being  acquainted  with  the  particulars  of 
that  unhappy  affair. 

It  may  be  proper  to  remark,  that  William  Penn  went  to  Eng- 
land in  1701  and  died  in  1718  ;  that  those  who  succeeded  him  in 
managing  the  executive  business  of  the  province,  especially 
about  the  year  1742,  were  not  governed  by  those  principles  of 
generosity  and  justice  that  the  Indians  so  highly  respected  in  the 
conduct  of  the  first  worthy  proprietary  of  Pennsylvania,  or  other- 
wise there  might  not  have  been  any  disturbance  with  the  natives 


NARRATIVE  OF  THE  LONG  WALK.  97 

during  the  administration  of  the  Penn  family,  a  period  of  more 
than  ninety  years. 

(Signed)  JOH*N  WATSON. 

Buckingham,  Pa.,  1815. 


The  preceding  narrative  was  written  by  my  father  about  seven 
years  ago,  and  was  then  published  in  the  Pennsylvania  Correspond- 
ent, printed  ;it  Doylestown,  from  which  I  have  copied  it ;  but  ap- 
prehending it  to  be  incorrect  in  some  particulars,  I  visited  Moses 
Marshall  who  in  his  eightieth  year  is  yet  in  the  full  possession  of 
his  faculties,  and  from  his  general  character  through  life  may  safely 
be  relied  on.  He  informed  me  that  his  father  was  one  of  the  per- 
sons employed  to  walk  out  the  purchase  made  by  William  Penn 
of  the  Delaware  Indians,  that  he  has  frequently  heard  him  relate 
the  particulars  which  he  well  remembers,  and  gave  me  the  follow- 
ing account  which  I  took  down  as  he  related  it. 

That  he  always  understood  from  his  father  that  William  Penn, 
soon  after  his  arrival  in  this  country,  purchased  a  tract  of 
land  of  the  Indians,  to  be  bounded  by  the  river  Delaware  on  the 
northeast  and  the  Neshaminy  on  the  northwest,  and  to  extend 
as  far  back  as  a  man  could  walk  in  three  days ;  that  he  and  the 
Indians  began  to  walk  out  this  land  at  the  mouth  of  the  Nesha- 
miny,  and  walked  up  the  Delaware  ;  that  in  one  day  and  a  half 
they  got  to  a  spruce  tree  near  the  mouth  of  Baker's  creek  when 
Penn  concluding  this  would  include  as  much  hind  as  he  would 
then  want,  a  line  was  run  and  marked  from  the  spruce  tree  to 
Neshaminy,  and  the  remainder  left  to  be  walked  out  when  it 
should  be  wanted  for  settlement. 

That  in  the  year  1733,  notice  was  given  in  the  public  papers 
that  the  remaining  day  and  a  half  walk  was  to  be  made,  and 
offering  500  acres  of  land  any  where  in  the  purchase  and  £5  in 
money  to  the  person  who  should  attend,  and  walk  the  furthest 
in  the  given  time. 

By  previous  agreement  the  governor  was  to  select  three  white 
persons  and  the  Indians  a   like  number  of  their  own  nation. 
The  persons  employed  by  the  governor  were  Edward  Marshall, 
8 


98  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

James  Yates,  and  Solomon  Jennings ;  one  of  the  Indians  was 
called  Combush,  but  he  had  forgotten  the  names  of  the  other  two. 

That  about  the  20th  of  September  (or  when  the  days  and  nights 
are  equal),  in  the  year  aforesaid,  they  met  before  sunrise,  at  the  old 
chestnut  tree  below  Wrightstown  meeting  house,  together  with 
a  great  number  of  persons  as  spectators.  The  walkers  all  stood 
with  one  hand  against  the  tree  until  the  sun  rose,  and  then  started. 
In  two  hours  and  a  half  they  arrived  at  Red  Hill  in  Bedminster, 
where  Jennings  and  two  of  the  Indians  gave  out.  The  other 
Indian  (Combush)  continued  with  them,  to  near  where  the  road 
forks  at  Easton,  where  he  laid  down  a  short  time  to  rest,  but  on 
getting  up  was  unable  to  proceed  further.  Marshall  and  Yates 
went  on  and  arrived,  at  sun  down,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Blue  mountain.  They  started  again  next  morning  at  sun  rise ; 
while  crossing  a  stream  of  water  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain 
Yates  became  faint  and  fell ;  Marshall  turned  back  and  supported 
him  until  others  came  to  his  relief,  and  then  continued  the  walk 
alone,  and  arrived  at  noon  on  a  spur  of  the  second  or  Broad 
mountain,  estimated  to  be  eighty-six  miles  from  the  place  of 
starting,  at  the  chestnut  tree  below  Wrightstown  meeting  house. 

He  says  they  walked  from  sunrise  to  sunset  without  stopping, 
provisions  and  refreshments  having  been  previously  provided  at 
different  places  along  the  road  and  line  that  had  been  run  and 
marked  for  them  to  walk  by  to  the  top  of  the  Blue  mountain, 
and  persons  also  attended  on  horseback  by  relays  with  liquors 
of  several  kinds. 

When  they  arrived  at  the  Blue  mountain  they  found  a  great 
number  of  Indians  collected  expecting  the  walk  would  there  end, 
but  when  they  found  it  was  to  go  half  a  day  further,  they  were 
very  angry,  and  said  they  were  cheated.  Penn  had  got  all  their 
good  land,  but  that  in  the  spring  every  Indian  was  to  bring  him 
a  buck  skin  and  they  would  have  their  land  again,  and  Penn 
might  go  to  the  devil  with  his  poor  land.  An  old  Indian  said 
"  no  sit  down  to  smoke,  no  shoot  a  squirrel,  but  lun,  lun,  lun  all 
day  long." 

He  says  his  father  never  received  any  reward  for  the  walk, 
although  the  governor  frequently  promised  to  have  the  500  acres 
of  land  run  out  for  him,  and  to  which  he  was  justly  entitled. 


NARRATIVE  OF  THE  LONG  WALK.  99 

Some  time  after  a  man  came  to  their  house  having  a  summons 
for  his  father  to  appear  before  the  Lord  London  in  Philadelphia. 
His  father  went  with  him,  and  was  very  particularly  examined 
respecting  the  walk,  his  account  taken  down  in  writing,  in  order 
to  he  sent  home  to  England.  While  in  Philadelphia  he  was 
strictly  guarded  by  two  grenadiers,  and  not  suffered  to  talk  to 
any  other  person  respecting  the  walk  or  his  present  business. 
When  he  was  about  to  return  home  James  Logan  made  him  a 
present  of  £10,  as  a  compensation  for  his  time  and  expenses. 

In  1754,  his  father  lived  about  eighteen  miles  above  Easton.  In 
the  next  year  two  hundred  Indians,  headed  by  their  chief  or  King 
Teedyuscung,  made  an  attack  on  the  white  inhabitants ;  they  fired 
on  a  company  attending  a  funeral,  but  killed  none  ;  these  fled  and 
gave  the  alarm,  and  they  all  got  off.  His  father's  family  went  back 
in  the  year  1756,  but  lived  until  the  fall  of  the  next  year  on  the 
Jersey  side  of  the  river,  when  they  returned  to  the  farm.  Soon 
after  about  sixteen  Indians  attacked  the  house  in  the  absence  of 
his  father  of  whom  they  always  appeared  afraid.  One  of  them 
threw  his  match  coat  on  a  -bee  hive  by  the  side  of  the  garden,  the 
bees  came  out  and  stung  them,  by  which  means  five  small  children 
that  were  playing  in  the  garden  got  away.  They  shot  one  of  his 
sisters  as  she  was  running,  the  ball  entered  her  right  shoulder 
and  came  out  below  the  left  breast,  yet  she  got  away  and  re- 
covered. They  took  his  mother,  who  was  not  in  a  condition  to 
escape  them,  some  miles  and  then  killed  her.  There  were  five 
guns  in  the  house  all  loaded,  which  they  never  touched,  and 
took  nothing  away,  except  a  coat  with  £3  in  money  in  the  pocket, 
belonging  to  Matthew  Hughes  who  boarded  with  the  Marshalls. 

In  1758,  the  people  having  forted  together,  the  Indians  came 
and  turned  the  creatures  into  the  wheat  field ;  five  young  men  went 
out  of  the  fort  to  turn  them  out  again.  The  Indians  waylaid  them 
and  shot  two,  one  of  whom  was  his  brother. 

His  father  said  the  Indians  always  insisted  that  the  walks 
should  have  been  up  the  river,  along  the  nearest  path,  which  was 
also  his  opinion,  and  that  they  had  been  improperly  dealt  with, 
and  cheated  out  of  their  land,  but  would  have  quietly  submitted 
if  the  walk  had  not  extended  beyond  the  Blue  mountain. 


100  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

From  the  foregoing  statement  of  Moses  Marshall,  as  well  as 
from  what  I  remember  to  have  heard  from  a  few  old  people 
when  I  was  young,  I  am  inclined  to  believe  my  father  must  have 
been  mistaken  in  a  few  particulars,  first  with  respect  to  the  ori- 
ginal purchase  made  by  William  Penn.  I  believe  it  was  three  days' 
walk,  but  when  one  and  a  half  days  were  measured  out,  the  grant 
or  deed  was  made  and  executed  for  so  much,  and  the  other  deed 
four  years  after  for  the  remainder,  for  it  appears  the  first  walk 
was  made  by  William  Penn  and  the  Indians  themselves,  up  the 
river,  and  they  always  insisted  that  the  remainder  should  be  in 
like  manner  measured  out  by  walking  up  the  river  and  to  begin 
where  the  former  had  ended. 

Again  my  father  says  the  day  and  a  half  was  changed  by  agree- 
ment to  one  day,  and  to  go  a  northwest  course.  Mr.  Marshall 
is  positive  that  his  father  walked  a  day  and  a  half,  and  so  I  have 
always  understood  it.  He  says  two  persons  of  uncommon  abili- 
ties for  fast  walking  were  employed  for  the  purpose,  at  £5  each 
or  an  equivalent  in  land.  Mr.  M.  says  there  were  three  and  gives 
their  names,  and  says  they  were  offered  500  acres  of  land  and 
£5  in  money.  Perhaps  my  father  may  have  been  led  into  the 
first  mistake,  from  the  circumstance  of  there  being  two  deeds 
or  grants  of  different  dates — the  extracts  from  which  used  by 
him  I  have  now  in  my  possession  among  the  papers  left  by  John 
Watson,  surveyor  —  the  others  probably  from  wrong  information 
received  about  the  time  the  narrative  was  written,  as  I  remember 
he  took  considerable  pains  and  called  on  several  old  persons  to 
assist  him. 

I  have  for  several  years  past  been  anxious  that  a  correct  history 
should  be  written  of  the  first  settlement  of  the  United  States,  as  that 
settlement  was  connected  with  the  history  of,  and  interested  the 
Indian  nations,  the  true  original  cause  and  consequence  to  them 
of  the  wars  that  ensued  between  them  and  the  white  people,  not 
as  they  have  been  related  by  interested  or  prejudiced  historians, 
professing  to  live  under  the  dispensation  of  the  gospel  of  peace, 
and  proud  of  the  advantages  of  civilization,  but  as  they  would  be 
narrated  by  intelligent  Indians ;  and  I  have  been  the  most  anxious 
to  see  such  a  history  written,  as  I  apprehend  many  important 


NARRATIVE  OF  THE  LONG  WALK.  101 

facts  necessary  thereto,  even  now  only  linger  in  the  recollection 
of  a  few  old  men,  and  in  a  short  time,  unless  collected  at  present, 
will  be  lost  for  ever. 

A  prominent  fact  of  this  description  in  my  view  is  what  has 
been  called  the  long  walk,  and  the  foregoing  contains  perhaps 
as  true  an  account  of  it  as  it  is  now  possible  to  collect.  It  is  im- 
portant as  being  the  cause  of  the  first  uneasiness  of  the  Indians 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  first  murder  committed  by  them  in  the 
province,  being  on  the  very  land  they  believed  themselves  thus 
cheated  out  of;  and  it  appears  this  is  yet  remembered  as  one  of 
the  wrongs  committed  on  them  by  the  white  men  of  which  they 
complain. 

(Signed)  JOHN  WATSON. 

Greenville  9th  of  9th  mo.,  1822. 


THE  EARLY  JESUIT  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  NORTH 
WESTERN  TERRITOR  Y. ; 

BY  W.  B.  O.  PBABODT. 

THERE  is  no  one  subject  which  presents  to  the  mind  of  the 
antiquarian  and  the  scholar,  a  finer  field  for  investigation,  than 
the  early  settlement  of  that  region  once  known  as  the  North 
Western  Territory  —  now  comprehending  within  its  limits  an 
empire  embracing  the  three  great  states  of  Indiana,  Illinois,  and 
Michigan,  and  the  present  territory  of  Oidsconsin  ;  for  such  was, 
and  such  should  now  be,  the  name  of  the  territory  alluded  to, 
and  known  on  the  modern  maps,  as  Wisconsin.  When  a  portion 
of  this  territory  was  first  discovered,  is  unknown.  The  Jesuit 
father,  no  doubt,  was  the  first  white  man  who  "  paddled  his  light 
canoe"  over  those  inland  seas,  extending  from  the  St.  Lawrence 
to  the  further  limits  of  Lake  Superior ;  and  long  before  civiliza- 
tion or  empire  had  extended  their  star  westward,  he  had  unfurled 
the  banner  of  the  cross  on  the  shores  of  Lakes  Huron,  Michigan 
and  Superior ;  and  the  missions  of  St.  Franpois  Xavier  at  Green 
Bay,  of  St.  Ignace  at  Mackina,  of  St.  Mary  at  the  straits,  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  show  conclusively,  with 
what  zeal  and  ardor  these  heralds  of  the  cross  pushed  their 
"  tabernacles  in  the  wilderness,"  and  made  known  to  these  wan- 
dering Arabs  of  the  prairies  the  symbols  of  the  Christian's  faith, 
and  the  mysteries  of  their  holy  religion.  But  it  was  not  simply 
as  stationed  preachers,  that  these  good  and  great  men  attempted 
the  conversion  of  the  innumerable  multitude  who  then  swarmed 
the  shores  of  the  lakes,  and  spread  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Ohio  — 
from  the  Miami  to  the  Father  of  Waters.  They  followed  the 
Indian  to  his  hunting  ground,  threaded  forests,  swam  rivers, 
bivouacked  with  their  troupe  in  the  immense  natural  meadows 
which  abound  in  that  region  ;  endured  hunger,  thirst,  cold,  suf- 
fering, disease,  death.  The  supposed  conversion  of  a  single 


1  Reprinted  from  The  Democratic  Review  (New  York),  for  May,  1844. 


THE  EARLY  JESUIT  MISSIONARIES.  103 

Indian  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  faith,  the  baptism  of  a 
single  infant,  seems  to  have  been  to  them  an  ample  reward 
for  all  their  labor,  for  all  their  toil,  and  for  all  their  suffering. 
From  the  slight  memorials  which  have  come  down  to  us, 
of  the  labors  of  love  of  these  venerable,  intellectual  and  de- 
voted sons  of  the  church,  it  is  evident  no  sacrifice  was  too 
great,  no  suffering  too  severe,  no  enterprise  too  hazardous,  no 
toil  unendurable,  which  led  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  great 
object  upon  the  success  of  which  they  had  periled  their  all  in 
this  life,  and  sought  that  crown  of  glory  in  the  next,  which  they 
felt  sanguine  would  be  the  reward  of  their  apostolic  labors  here. 
"  I  have  been  most  amply  rewarded  for  all  my  trials  and  suffer- 
ing," says  one  of  the  lowly  followers  of  Jesus,  after  having,  for 
six  days,  lived  on  tripe  de  roche  and  a  part  of  an  Indian  moccasin 
given  him  by  a  squaw,  "  I  have  this  day  rescued  from  the  burning 
an  infant  who  died  from  hunger,  its  mother's  resources,  in  the 
general  famine,  having  failed  her ;  I  administered  to  the  dying 
infant  the  sacred  rites  of  baptism :  and  thank  God,  it  is  now 
safe  from  that  dreadful  destiny  which  befalls  those  who  die 
without  the  pale  of  our  most  holy  church." 

With  us  in  the  latter  days,  differing,  as  most  of  us  do,  in  our 
religious  opinions,  from  this  school  of  ecclesiastics,  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  do  them  justice.  As  a  whole,  their  history  has 
been  little  studied,  and  less  understood.  They  have  neither  had 
their  Livy,  nor  their  Polybius ;  and  if  the  history  of  these  men, 
of  their  exertions,  of  their  influence,  of  their  actions,  for  good  or 
evil,  ever  is  to  be  written  with  candor,  it  must  be  in  this  country  — 
the  scene  of  many  of  their  labors,  and  we  might  well  add,  of  their 
sufferings  and  their  death.  No  subject  would  form  a  more  im- 
posing theme  for  the  historian ;  none  demands  higher  qualifica- 
tions, more  laborious  research,  and  above  all,  the  most  dignified 
superiority  to  all  the  prepossessions  of  age,  of  country  and  of 
creed.  The  individual  who  has  closely  examined  the  colonial 
history  of  the  North  "Western  Territory  cannot  but  be  struck 
with  the  truth  of  the  remark,  that  "  neither  commercial  enter- 
prise nor  royal  ambition,  carried  the  power  of  France  into  the 
heart  of  our  continent;  the  motive  was  religion."  The  same  reli- 


104  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

gious  feeling  which  prompted  our  pilgrim  fathers  to  plant  the 
banner  of  the  cross  on  the  sterile  rocks  of  Plymouth,  carried  it 
to  the  borders  of  the  Mississippi :  and  while  the  influence  of 
Calvin  is  felt  in  the  worship  and  schools  of  New  England,  the 
no  less  powerful  impulses  of  Loyola  and  his  followers  have  left 
their  marks  upon  the  whole  Algonquin  race,  who  dwelt  on  the 
borders  of  the  Illinois  and  the  Wabash.  The  morning  matin 
and  the  evening  vespers  were  heard  amidst  the  war-whoop  of 
the  Indian,  and  the  symbol  of  the  Christian's  faith  to  this  day 
hangs  in  bold  relief  above  the  girdle  which  suspends  his  toma- 
hawk. The  history  of  the  Jesuit's  labors  is  connected  with  every 
tribe  from  the  waters  of  the  Lac  Tracy  to  where  La  Belle  Rivihe 
flows  into  the  Michasippd —  "  not  a  cape  was  turned,  nor  a  river 
entered  but  a  Jesuit  led  the  way."  From  the  period  when 
Charles  Raymbault  and  Isaac  Jogues  accepted  the  invitation  of 
the  Chippewas  to  visit  their  tribe  at  the  Sault  St.  Marie  in  1641, 
down  to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  there  was  a  suc- 
cession of  missions,  not  only  along  the  borders  of  the  lakes,  but 
at  St.  Joseph,  now  Vincennes,  on  the  Wabash,  among  the  Mas- 
contins,  the  Pottawotamies,  the  Miamis ;  at  Peoria,  among  the 
Illinois ;  at  Cahokia  among  the  Tamarois  or  Cahokias ;  at  Kas- 
kaskia,  and  along  the  shores  of  the  Mississippi ;  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Wisconsin  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio ;  down  the  whole 
valley  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  Arkansas,  and  the  Natchez. 
Wherever  ihefleur  de  fo/s  was  hoisted,  and  the  power  of  the  grand 
monarque  made  known  to  the  Aborigines  of  the  west,  the  humble 
but  no  less  powerful  influence  of  that  sign  by  which  the  Jesuit 
conquered  the  stubborn  hearts  and  pagan  superstitions  of  these 
powerful  nations,  was  displayed ;  and  the  Manitou  of  the  Christian 
was  acknowledged  and  worshiped  as  the  only  true  God.  The 
influence  of  their  exertions  is  felt  even  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
among  the  remnants  of  those  tribes  which  once  lorded  it  over 
this  Western  Barbary ;  and  it  was  no  idle  boast  of  Le  Jeune 
when  he  said,  "  The  Mohawk  and  the  feebler  Algonquin  shall 
make  their  home  together ;  the  wolf  shall  lie  down  with  the 
lamb,  and  a  little  child  shall  lead  them."  Their  bows  have 
indeed  been  broken,  and  their  tomahawks  turned  into  plough- 


THE  EARLY  JESUIT  MISSIONARIES.  105 

shares ;  but  whether  their  condition  has  been  bettered  by  the 
progress  of  civilization,  is  a  problem  jet  to  be  solved. 

There  were  three  routes  taken  by  the  Jesuit  fathers,  on  their 
pilgrimage  to  the  tribes  bordering  the  Mississippi  —  all  three 
passing  out  of  Lake  Michigan.  The  first  up  the  St.  Joseph's  and 
thence  into  the  Wabash ;  the  second  up  the  Chicago  river, 
thence  by  a  portage  across  into  the  Kankiki  (called  on  the  old 
maps  Teakiki)  and  thence  into  the  Illinois ;  the  third  the  route 
taken  by  Marquette  and  Joliet,  ascending  the  Fox,  and  descend- 
ing the  Wisconsin  to  the  Mississippi.  That  one  or  more  of  these 
routes  had  been  traversed  by  the  Jesuit  fathers,  years  before  Mar- 
quette and  Joliet  launched  their  frail  bark,  in  1673,  on  the  waters 
of  the  Mississippi,  is  susceptible  of  proof;  and  that  the  Missis- 
sippi had  been  known,  and  the  tribes  inhabiting  it  visited,  and 
missions  established  before  Marquette  even  coasted  its  borders, 
is  now  well  understood.  As  early  as  the  year  1653,  twenty 
years  before  Marquette  and  Joliet  started  on  their  voyage  of 
discovery  to  the  "great  river  Mechasippi,"  Father  Jean  De- 
querre,  Jesuit,  went  from  the  mission  on  the  Superior  to  the 
Illinois,  and  established  a  flourishing  mission,  probably  the  mis- 
sion of  St.  Louis  where  Peoria  is  now  situated.  He  visited 
various  Indian  nations  on  the  borders  of  the  Mississippi,  and  was 
slain  in  the  midst  of  his  apostolical  labors  in  1661. 

In  1657,  Father  Jean  Charles  J)rocoux,  Jesuit,  went  to  the 
Illinois,  and  returned  to  Quebec  the  same  year. 

In  1670,  Father  Hugues  Pinet,  Jesuit,  went  to  the  Illinois,  and 
established  a  mission  among  the  Tamarois,  or  Cahokias,  at  or 
near  the  present  site  of  the  village  of  Cahokia,  on  the  borders  of 
the  Mississippi.  He  remained  there  until  the  year  1686,  and 
was  at  that  mission  when  Marquette  and  Joliet  went  down  the 
Mississippi.  In  the  same  year  M.  Bergier,  priest  of  the  Seminary 
of  Quebec,  succeeded  him  in  the  mission  to  the  Tamarois  or 
Cahokias ;  and  Father  Pinet  returned  to  the  mission  of  St.  Louis 
(Peoria),  where  he  remained  until  he  died,  the  16th  of  July, 
1704,  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine. 

In  1663,  Father  Claude  Jean  Allonez,  was  appointed  vicar 
general  of  the  north  and  west,  including  Illinois.  He  preached 


106  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

to  the  Pottawotamies  and  Miamis  about  Green  Bay  ;  in  1665,  lie 
returned  to  Quebec,  and  went  to  the  Illinois  in  1668,  and  visited 
the  missions  on  the  Mississippi. 

In  1670,  M.  Augustine  Meulan  de  Circe,  priest  of  the  Seminary 
of  Quebec,  went  to  Illinois.  He  left  the  mission  there  in  1675, 
returned  to  France,  was  sent  missionary  to  Siam,  made  bishop 
in  1708,  nominated  vicar  apostolical  of  China,  and  in  1713  was  in 
Japan.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  for  twenty  years,  to  wit,  from 
1653  to  1673,  anterior  to  the  discovery  of  Marquette  and  Joliet, 
there  was  a  succession  of  missions  in  the  Illinois,  and  one  of  them, 
that  of  Cahokia,  established  on  the  very  banks  of  the  Mississippi. 
There  are  no  other  memorials  of  these  missions  now  extant,  as 
known  to  us,  except  those  preserved  in  the  Seminary  of  Quebec ; 
from  a  copy  of  which  the  above  notices  are  taken.  The  only 
object  is  to  show,  that  for  years  before  Marquette  and  Joliet 
visited  the  country,  the  Mississippi  had  been  discovered,  and 
missions  actually  established  on  its  borders.  That  these  good 
fathers  made  notes  of  their  travels,  and  rendered  an  account  of 
the  various  Indian  tribes,  which  they  visited  along  the  Father  of 
Waters,  to  their  superior,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  What  have 
become  of  these  memorials  of  early  western  adventure  and  dis- 
covery now  it  is  impossible  to  say.  That  they  would  throw  much 
light  on  the  early  history  of  the  west,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

It  will  be  remembered,  by  $11  who  have  taken  any  interest  in 
the  settlement  of  la  Nouvelle  France,  that  in  the  year  1628,  the 
government  of  Canada,  civil  and  military,  was  confided  by  Louis 
XIH  to  one  hundred  associates ;  at  the  head  of  whom  was  the 
celebrated  Cardinal  Richelieu.  Hostilities  commenced  the  same 
year  between  England  and  France,  and  the  first  vessels  sent  out 
by  the  company  of  New  France  were  captured  by  the  English. 
M.  de  Champlain  commanded  at  Quebec.  The  inhabitants,  re- 
duced to  seven  ounces  of  bread  per  diem,  and  the  garrison  with 
but  five  hundred  pounds  of  powder  in  the  magazine,  were  sum- 
moned to  a  surrender.  Champlain,  although  at  the  greatest 
extremity,  refused  to  do  so. 

To  add  to  the  misfortunes  of  the  colony,  the  French  squadron, 
under  command  of  M.  de  Roquemont,  one  of  the  associates,  and 


THE  EARLY  JESUIT  MISSIONARIES.  107 

bringing  relief  to  the  colony,  was  captured  by  the  English  in  the 
St.  Lawrence.  The  savage  allies  of  the  French,  since  the  ap- 
proach of  the  English,  became  alienated ;  and  all  the  firmness  of 
Champlain  could  not  arrest  the  disorders  daily  accruing  in  this 
new  settlement.  The  necessary  consequence  was,  the  surrender 
of  the  garrison  with  the  honors  of  war  to  the  English.  The 
French  were  permitted  to  retire  without  molestation  ;  but  the 
greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  chose  to  remain  in  the  province. 
The  capture  of  Quebec  is  attributed  by  Charlevoix  to  the  perfidy 
of  some  French  Calvinists,  among  whom  the  most  conspicuous 
was  Jacques  Michel ;  and  who,  according  to  Charlevoix,  was 
acting  on  board  the  English  squadron  in  the  capacity  of  vice- 
admiral.  Whether  this  was  so  or  not,  it  is  now  too  late  to  de- 
termine. Suffice  it  to  say,  that  Canada,  in  the  year  1632,  was 
again  ceded  to  the  French  crown  by  the  treaty  of  St.  Germain. 
In  1633,  the  company  of  K"ew  France  was  restored  to  all  its 
rights ;  and  M.  de  Champlain  being  appointed  governor  general 
of  Canada,  sailed  from  France  with  a  squadron  to  take  possession 
of  it,  carrying  with  him  the  Jesuit  fathers  Brebeuf  and  Evremond 
Masse.  Precise  orders  were  given  by  Louis  XIII  that  no  Pro- 
testant should  settle  in  Canada,  and  no  other  religion  than  the 
Catholic  should  be  tolerated.  Among  the  great  number  of  Indian 
tribes  which  were  found  in  the  country,  and  which  opened  to  the 
missionaries  a  vast  field  for  the  exercise  of  their  functions,  none 
seemed  to  claim  their  attention  more  than  the  Hurons.  Cham- 
plain  had  for  a  long  time  formed  the  design  of  making  an  estab- 
lishment in  their  country.  Inhabiting  the  immense  region 
between  the  Lakes  Ontario,  Erie,  and  Huron,  mostly  along  the 
northern  and  eastern  borders  of  the  two  last,  a  nation  numerous, 
amounting  to  40  or  50,000  souls,  when  first  known  to  the  French, 
whose  true  name  was  Yendats,  but  to  whom  the  French  had 
given  the  name  of  Hurons,  from  the  French  word  hure,  owing  to 
the  peculiar  manner  in  which  they  wore  their  hair.  "  Quelles 
Hures  ?"  said  the  French,  when  they  first  saw  them ;  hence  the 
word  Hurons.1  The  object  of  Champlain  was  to  make  this  country 
the  centre  of  the  missionary  labors  of  the  Jesuits,  from  whence, 

i  Charlevoix,  i,  184. 


108  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

as  a  starting  point,  they  might  spread  the  Catholic  religion 
among  the  vast  tribes  supposed  to  inhabit  the  country  south  and 
west.  The  Fathers  Brebeuf  and  Daniel  were  the  first  mission- 
aries. In  1834,  after  great  delay,  owing  to  the  unwillingness  of 
the  Hurons  to  take  them,  they  departed  from  Quebec,  and  with 
great  difficulty  and  danger,  arrived  at  their  mission,  and  built  a 
small  chapel,  which  they  dedicated  to  St.  Joseph.  The  fruit  of 
their  labors  was  small.  Some  five  or  six  adults  were  baptized  : 
but  they  consoled  themselves  with  the  fact  "  of  having  assured 
the  eternal  safety  of  a  great  number  of  infants,  who  expired  im- 
mediately after  having  received  the  rites  of  baptism."  The 
Indians  listened  to  the  relations  of  these  good  fathers,  relative  to 
the  mysteries  of  their  most  holy  religion ;  but  it  must  be  ac- 
knowledged the  results  were  but  indifferent ;  and  even  when 
they  exhibited  the  marks  of  entire  conviction,  "  it  was  evident 
they  had  not  paid  the  least  attention  to  what  was  said,  nor  com- 
prehended it  if  they  had." 

"  I  saw  you  had  no  person  to  keep  you  company,"  said  one  of 
the  Huron  chiefs  to  the  missionary,  whom,  from  the  attention, 
modesty  and  reverence  manifested,  the  good  father  hoped  to 
convert  —  "I  saw  you  had  no  person  to  keep  you  company,  and 
pray  with  you.  I  had  compassion  on  your  solitude,  I  therefore 
remained  with  you.  As  others  now  wish  to  render  you  the  same 
service,  I  will  retire." 

Even  some  who  went  so  far  as  to  demand  and  receive  baptism, 
and  performed,  for  some  time,  all  the  outward  duties  of  a  con- 
vert, acknowledged  they  had  done  it  with  a  view  of  pleasing  the 
robe  noire  who  had  persuaded  them  to  change  their  religion. 

"  You  preach  well,"  said  a  Huron  chief  to  Father  Brebeuf, 
"  and  there  is  nothing  in  all  you  teach  us,  but  what  is  probably 
true  enough,  and  will  answer  for  those  beyond  the  sea,  from 
whence  you  came  ;  but  do  you  not  see  we  inhabit  a  world  entirely 
different  from  yours,  and  should  have  another  heaven,  and  by 
consequence  another  way  to  get  there  ?" 

Such  were  the  unsophisticated  notions  of  these  sons  of  the 
forest. 

"  These  savages,"  says  one  of  these  reverend  fathers,  "have  pro- 


THE  EARLY  JESUIT  MISSIONARIES.  109 

posed  for  our  consideration,  all  the  objections  to  our  faith,  ever 
made  by  the  wisest  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  to  the  earliest 
apostles." 

This  was  the  first  mission  established  west  of  Lake  Erie,  yet, 
befo're  the  end  of  the  year  1636,  there  were  counted  six  Jesuit 
missionaries  in  the  different  Huron  villages,  besides  many  French- 
men who  had  followed  them.  In  the  year  1642,  the  Jesuits 
established  their  mission  at  Sault  St.  Marie.  A  deputation  of 
the  tribe  dwelling  there  came  to  St.  Joseph,  and  Fathers  Isaac 
Jogues  and  Charles  Raymbault  were  sent  with  the  deputation  to 
the  sault.  They  were  soon,  however,  recalled.  This  is  the  same 
Father  Jogues,  who,  on  his  return  from  the  Huron  mission  to 
Quebec,  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Iroquois,  suffered  the  greatest 
indignities,  was  mutilated  in  his  hands,  scourged  in  three  villages, 
and  finally  redeemed  by  a  Dutch  officer  from  Fort  Orange,  now 
Albany.  He  returned  to  France,  arid  demanded  from  the  pope 
the  liberty  of  celebrating  mass  with  his  mutilated  hands.  Con- 
sent was  given  in  these  words :  "  Indignum  esset  Christi  mar- 
tyrem  Christi  non  bibere  sanguinem."  He  returned  from  France 
to  Canada,  established  a  mission  among  the  Iroquois,  and  was 
slain  by  them  in  1646. 

The  fate  of  the  Hurons  was  truly  pitiable.  Of  their  various 
villages,  those  which  were  not  destroyed  by  pestilence  and  famine, 
were  attacked  by  their  old  enemies,  the  Iroquois ;  and  as  no 
quarter  was  given  by  these  modern  Goths,  they  were  butchered 
en  masse.  Weak,  powerless,  overcome,  the  very  name  of  an 
Iroquois  alarmed  them.  Two  whole  villages  voluntarily  sur- 
rendered themselves,  and  were  adopted  into  the  Six  Nations ; 
others  fled  to  the  tribes  south  and  west,  others  joined  the  English, 
and  some  established  themselves  in  what  is  now  the  state  of 
Pennsylvania.  Not  only  the  country  of  the  Hurons,  but  the 
whole  borders  of  the  Ottawas,  were  abandoned,  and  three  hundred 
Hurons,  accompanied  by  their  missionary,  Father  Raguenaw, 
were  in  1650  led  back  by  him  from  the  mission  of  St.  Joseph  to 
the  very  walls  of  Quebec,  where,  under  the  guns  of  the  fort  and 
the  protection  of  their  "  great  father  Ononthio,"  they  were  in- 
duced to  believe  they  could  find  safety  from  the  exterminating 


110  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

enemies  of  their  tribe  and  kindred,  the  fierce  and  bloody  Iro- 
quois. The  entire  destruction,  in  1655,  by  the  Iroquois,  of  the 
Nation  du  Chat,  on  Series,  who  inhabited  the  southern  borders  of 
Lake  Erie,  and  whose  very  existence  as  a  nation  is  known  at  the 
present  day  only  by  the  name  given  by  them  to  the  lake  (Erie) 
on  which  they  dwelt,  is  a  sad  memorial  of  what  would  have  been 
the  fate  of  the  Huron,  had  he  not  deserted  his  hunting  grounds, 
and  the  graves  of  his  ancestors,  and  sought  protection  from  his 
more  warlike  neighbors.  But  even  there  he  was  not  safe. 
Many  a  Huron  scalp  has  been  carried  as  a  trophy  to  his  tribe,  by 
the  fearless  Onondaga,  who  has  sought  his  victim  under  the 
bastions  of  Fort  Levi,  or  on  the  plains  of  Sylleri. 

In  the  years  1687-9,  Father  Maret  and  another  Jesuit  estab- 
lished a  mission  among  the  Sioux.  In  1663,  the  Marquis  de 
Tracy,  lieutenant  general  in  the  French  armies,  was  named 
viceroy  of  la  Nouvelle  France,  M.  de  Courcelles,  governor,  and 
the  celebrated  Talon,  intendant.  Affairs  then  presented  a  new 
aspect.  The  regiment  de  Carignan  (in  which  Frangois  Mor- 
gan Vinceunes,  the  founder  of  Vincennes  on  the  Wabash,  was 
an  officer),  arrived  in  the  colony  in  1665,  accompanied  by  M. 
de  Tracy.  An  expedition  was  undertaken  against  the  Iroquois  ; 
many  of  their  settlements  destroyed,  and  this  formidable  enemy 
of  New  France  humiliated.  It  was  a  primary  object  with  the 
viceroy,  to  endeavor,  if  possible,  to  induce  the  red  men  to  adopt 
the  language,  habits  and  manners  of  their  conquerors  ;  but  this, 
like  every  other  experiment  of  the  same  kind  for  upwards  of  a 
century,  entirely  failed.  In  1667,  M.  de  Tracy  returned  to 
France.  M.  de  Talon  was  left  as  his  successor.  In  the  mean- 
time, new  missions  were  established  in  the  west.  The  Ottawas, 
who  had  their  villages  on  the  east  side  of  the  straits  connecting 
Lakes  Erie  and  St.  Clair,  in  the  Bay  of  Sagamon,  and  the  western 
end  of  Lake  Huron,  sent  a  deputation  to  Quebec ;  and  the  Father 
Claude  Allonez,  at  their  solicitation,  was  sent  as  a  missionary  to 
their  tribe.  The  sufferings  endured  in  the  same  mission,  but  a 
few  years  before,  by  the  Fathers  G-arreau  and  Mesnard,  did  not 
deter  this  holy  man  from  the  performance  of  what  he  conceived 
his  duty  to  his  God  and  his  fellow  men.  He  arrived  at  the  sault 


THE  EARLY  JESUIT  MISSIONARIES.  Ill 

the  first  of  September,  1668,  but  he  did  not  stop  there.  He  em- 
ployed the  whole  month  of  September  in  coasting  the  southern 
portion  of  Lake  Superior,  where  he  met  many  Christians  bap- 
tized by  Father  Mesnard.  "  I  had  the  pleasure,"  says  this  vene- 
rable man,  "  of  assuring  by  baptism  the  eternal  salvation  of  many 
a  dying  infant."  His  success  with  the  adults  seems  to  have  been 
less.  At  Chagouamigon  or  St.  Michael,  on  the  southwestern 
side  of  Lake  Superior,  there  were  gathered  eight  hundred 
warriors  of  different  nations ;  a  chapel  was  built ;  among  them 
were  several  tribes  who  understood  the  Algonquin  language. 
So  fine  an  occasion  for  exercising  his  zeal  could  not  be  overlooked. 
"  I  spoke  in  the  Algonquin  language,"  says  he,  "  for  along  time, 
on  the  subject  of  the  Christian  religion,  in  an  earnest  and  pow- 
erful manner,  but  in  language  suited  to  the  capacity  of  my 
audience.  I  was  greatly  applauded,  but  this  was  the  only  fruit 
of  my  labors."  Among  the  number  assembled  were  three 
hundred  Pottawattamies,  two  hundred  Sauks,  eighty  Illinoians. 
In  the  year  1668,  peace  having  been  established  between  the 
French  and  the  Six  Nations,  many  discoveries  were  made,  and 
many  new  missions  established.  In  this  year  Father  Dablon  and 
Marquette  went  to  the  mission  of  Sault  St.  Marie.  In  the  same 
year,  Father  Nicholas,  who  was  on  the  mission  with  Allonez, 
conducted  a  deputation  of  Nez  Perces,  an  Algonquin  tribe,  to 
Quebec  ;  and  Father  Allonez  went  to  the  mission  at  Green  Bay. 
Sault  St.  Marie  was  made  the  centre  of  their  missionary  labors 
among  the  Algonquin  tribes.  In  the  year  1671,  Nicholas  Perrot 
was  sent  by  M.  Courcelles,  intendaut  in  the  province  in  the 
absence  of  M.  Talon  who  had  gone  to  France,  on  a  special 
mission  to  the  Algonquin  tribes,  to  induce  them  to  send  deputies 
to  the  Sault  St.  Marie  for  the  purpose  of  entering  into  an  alliance 
with  the  French  visiting  the  tribes  north,  with  whom  the  French 
had  commerce  ;  he  left  the  straits  and  went  to  visit  the  Miamis 
at  Chicago.  Teteuchoua  was  the  head  chief  of  the  nation,  and 
could  bring  into  the  field  four  or  five  thousand  combatants.  He 
himself  seems  to  have  preserved  the  dignity  and  state  of  royalty, 
as  he  never,  according  to  Perrot,  moved  "  without  a  guard  of 
forty  warriors,  who  kept  watch  day  and  night  about  his  cabin." 


112  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

His  reception  was  in  accordance  with  the  dignity  of  the  chief, 
and  the  rank  of  the  ambassador.  Perrot  remained  among  the 
Miamis  some  days.  The  chief  would  have  accompanied  him,  hut 
was,  owing  to  his  age,  dissuaded  from  doing  so  by  his  subjects. 
He  gave  full  power,  however,  to  the  deputation  of  the  Pottawatta- 
mies,  who  accompanied  Perrot,  to  act  for  him  at  the  conference 
at  the  sault.  Perrot  was  unable  to  visit  the  Mascoutins  or  the 
Kickapoos,  but  returned  to  the  straits.  The  conference  took 
place  in  the  month  of  May,  1671.  Father  Allonez  made  them  a 
speech ;  deputies  were  in  attendance  from  all  the  tribes  north  as 
far  as  Hudson's  bay.  The  deputies  acknowledged  subjection  to 
the  French  monarch,  and  declared  they  would  have  no  king  but 
the  Grand  Ononthio  of  the  French.  Two  cedar  posts  were  placed 
in  the  ground,  and  to  these  were  attached  the  cross  and  the  arms 
of  France ;  and  the  envoy,  M.  de  St.  Lusson,  declared,  through 
Father  Allonez  as  his  interpreter,  that  he  took  possession  of  the 
whole  country  in  the  name  of  the  French  monarch,  and  placed 
all  the  inhabitants  under  his  protection.  The  whole  ceremony 
finished  with  a  Te  Deum  and  a  discharge  of  fire-arms. 

In  1671,  Louis  de  Buade  Conte  de  Frotignac  became  the  suc- 
cessor of  M.  de  Courcelles  in  the  government  of  New  France. 
In  the  short  space  of  time  that  the  talented  and  enterprising  M. 
de  Talon  was  employed  as  intendant  in  New  France,  he  estab- 
lished the  authority  of  his  master  in  the  extreme  north,  and  far 
in  the  west  he  had  already  undertaken  new  discoveries.  Not 
only  by  the  report  of  the  tribes  who  dwell  along  the  further  end 
of  Lake  Superior,  but  of  those  who  occupied  the  country  in  the 
southern  bend  of  Lake  Michigan,  as  well  as  from  the  relation  of 
the  Jesuit  fathers,  it  was  known  that  to  the  west  of  Nbuvelle 
France,  there  was  a  great  river,  supposed  to  run  south,  and  most 
probably  emptying  into  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  if  it  ran  that  course, 
or  that  of  California  if  it  ran  west.  This  river  was  called  Me- 
chassippi  by  some,  by  others  Micisippi.  The  spirited  and  enter- 
prising Talon  was  unwilling  to  leave  the  province  until  he  had 
made  some  arrangement  for  its  exploration.  He  charged  the 
Father  Marquette  with  the  expedition,  and  gave  him  for  his  com- 
panion the  Sieur  Joliet,  a  citizen  of  Quebec,  a  man  active  and 


THE  EARLY  JESUIT  MISSIONARIES.  113 

enterprising,  and  fully  capable  of  sustaining  the  fatigues  of  such 
an  enterprise.  No  individual  could  have  been  better  fitted  for 
such  an  undertaking  than  the  Father  Marquette.  In  1663  he  was 
established  at  the  mission  of  St.  Joseph,  on  the  river  which  bears 
that  name,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  present  state  of  Indiana, 
and  labored  among  the  Pottawattamies  located  there.  In  1668, 
we  have  seen  he  was  engaged  with  Father  Dablon,  at  Sault  St. 
Marie,  to  which  place  he  accompanied  Father  Dablon,  with  the 
Ottawas.  He  had  traversed  the  great  lakes,  had  intercourse  with 
the  various  tribes  who  inhabited  there,  spoke  several  of  the  Al- 
gonquin languages,  and  no  doubt  had  heard  not  only  from  the 
Pottawattamies,  but  from  the  Sacs,  the  Sioux,  and  more  particu- 
larly from  the  Illinois,  who  attended  the  conference  at  Chagoua- 
migon,  of  the  existence  of  the  river,  and  its  general  course,  of 
the  tribes  who  dwelt  on  its  borders,  and  all  the  particulars  neces- 
sary to  be  known  to  one  who  contemplated,  as  he  says  he  did, 
its  discovery.  The  difficulties  of  communication  between  these 
remote  points  —  Quebec  and  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  —  had 
probably  prevented  any  communication  between  the  missionaries 
who  had  preceded  him  and  their  superior,  at  the  time  Marquette 
embarked  on  his  voyage ;  though  it  is  to  be  presumed,  that 
Marquette  was  not  ignorant  as  late  as  1673,  when  he  left  Green 
Bay,  that  missions  had  been  already  established  in  the  Illinois, 
some  years  before  ;  and  the  eclat  attending  the  discovery  might 
have  induced  him  to  withhold  all  the  sources  of  information, 
which  as  a  discoverer  alone,  and  not  as  a  missionary,  might  have 
been  in  his  possession. 

I  feel  no  disposition  to  detract  at  all  from  the  Father  Marquette 
any  portion  of  the  merit  which  properly  belongs  to  him.  It  is 
certain,  that  to  his  journal  we  owe  our  first  knowledge  of  the 
Father  of  Waters.  With  Joliet  as  his  companion,  he  entered 
the  Mechasippi,  in  his  bark  canoe,  on  the  17th  of  June,  1673 ; 
having  ascended  the  Fox  from  Green  Bay,  and  crossing  the  por- 
tage, descended  the  Ouisconsin  until  its  confluence  with  the  Mis- 
sissippi. Leaving  their  frail  bark  to  the  guidance  of  the  swift 
current  of  the  river,  they  descended  to  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois. 
Three  leagues  below  the  junction  of  the  Missouri  (called  by 
9 


114  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Marquette,  Pekitanoni)  with  the  Mississippi,  they  found  three 
villages  of  the  Illinois.  They  remained  here  some  days,  and 
again  embarking,  descended  the  Mississippi  as  far  as  the  Arkansas. 
Their  provisions  and  munitions  beginning  to  fail  them,  and  be- 
lieving it  imprudent  to  advance  further  into  a  country  whose  in- 
habitants were  unknown,  and  feeling  perfectly  satisfied  from  the 
course  of  the  river  that  it  discharged  itself  into  the  G-ulf  of  Mexico 
and  not  into  the  Gulf  of  California,  tjiey  retraced  their  steps  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Illinois,  ascended  that  river  to  the  portage,  and 
thence  into  Lake  Michigan.  Marquette  remained  at  the  mission 
of  the  Miamis,  at  Chicago,  and  alternately  attended  this  and  the 
mission  of  the  Pottawattamies,  on  the  St.  Joseph.  Joliet  returned 
to  Quebec,  to  render  an  account  of  their  voyage  to  Talon,  but 
found  he  had  returned  to  France.  Father  Marquette  remained 
at  the  mission  for  two  years  after  his  voyage,  of  which  he  gave  a 
relation,  published  in  1687,  under  the  modest  title  of  Dicoumrte 
de  quelques  Pays  et  Nations  de  V  Amerique  Septentrionale." 

When  on  his  voyage  from  Chicago  to  the  Isle  of  Mackinaw, 
he  entered,  the  18th  day  of  May,  1675,  the  mouth  of  a  small 
river  on  the  western  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  known  on  the  old 
maps  as  Riviere  du  P.  Marquette,1  erected  his  altar,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  saying  mass  at  some  little  distance  from  the  companions 
of  his  voyage,  having  first  requested  the  two  men  who  were  his 
voyageurs  to  leave  him  alone  for  the  space  of  half  an  hour.  This 
time  having  expired,  his  companions  went  in  search  of  him,  and 
were  astonished  to  find  him  dead.  The  soul  of  this  good  and 
great  man  had  taken  its  flight  to  another  and  better  world ;  and 
in  accordance  with  a  presentiment,  no  doubt  entertained  by  him 
as  he  remarked  to  his  companions  when  landing :  "  Here  will 
be  the  end  of  my  voyage."  As  it  was  too  far  from  Mackinaw  to 
remove  his  body  there,  it  was  buried  on  the  bank  of  the  river, 
which,  according  to  Charlevoix,  who  visited  it  in  1721,  had,  since 
the  burial  of  Marquette,  "  receded  little  by  little  from  the  grave, 
as  if  respecting  the  burial  place."  The  following  year,  one  of 

1  According  to  the  map  of  Charlevoix,  accompanying  his  Histoire  de  la  Nouvette  France,  1734, 
the  location  of  the  Riviere  du  P.  Marquette  is  placed  further  north  than  it  is  on  the  recent  maps 
of  Michigan  ;  and  it  is  the  third  river  south  of  Bay  du  Travers,  known  on  the  modern  maps  as 

Riviere  au  Betsiee. 


THE  EARLY  JESUIT  MISSIONARIES.  115 

the  two  voyageurs  who  had  accompanied  him,  and  assisted  in 
performing  the  last  duties  to  this  enterprising  and  devoted  son 
of  the  church,  returned  to  the  place  where  he  had  been  interred, 
and  carried  his  remains  to  Mackinaw.  The  Indians,  after  his 
death,  gave  to  the  stream  on  which  he  was  buried  the  name  of 
Riviere  de  la  Kobe  Noire ;  the  French,  that  of  P.  Marquette ; 
and  these  voyageurs  of  the  inland  sea  of  Michigan,  for  years, 
did  not  fail  to  invoke  the  spirit  of  the  sainted  man,  as  their  frail 
barks  braved  the  tempest  of  the  lake,  on  their  annual  voyages  to 
Mackinaw ;  and  the  Algonquin,  as  he  coasted  its  borders,  or  hunted 
along  its  banks,  cast  his  votive  offering  on  the  resting  place  of 
one,  whose  amenity  of  manners,  goodness  of  heart,  and  kindness 
of  feeling,  had  endeared  him  to  every  tribe  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Huron  to  Sault  St.  Marie  —  from  Chicago  to  Michilimackinac. 
Yet  at  this  time,  not  a  cross  marks  the  place  of  his  death ;  not  a 
stone  shows  that  of  his  grave ;  and  the  traveler,  as  -he  is  carried 
by  the  genius  of  Fulton,  with  all  the  appliances  of  comfort  and 
luxury,  through  the  waters  of  Michigan,  may  inquire  in  vain, 
where  he  died,  or  where  he  was  buried. 

In  the  prairies  to  the  west  of  the  southern  part  of  Lake  Michigan, 
between  the  country  occupied  by  the  Foxes  and  the  Illinois  river, 
dwelt  a  tribe  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  of 
whom,  so  far  as  we  know,  not  a  vestige  now  remains.  They 
were  known  on  the  old  maps  as  the  Mascontins,  or  Nation  de  Feu. 
Charlevoix  states,  that  the  true  name  was  Mascontenec,  signifying 
an  open  country.  The  Pottawattamies  pronouncing  it  Masconten, 
from  them  the  French  had  taken  the  name  ;  and  as  the  word  in 
the  Pottawattamic  language,  or  a  word  similar  to  it,  was  translated 
fire,  the  name  of  Nation  de  Feu  was  given  to  them.  The  Kick- 
apoos  were  their  neighbors,  and  in  interest  were  united  with  the 
Mascontens.  Whether  this  last  tribe  were  amalgamated  with 
the  first,  and  lost  their  original  name,  it  is  impossible  to  say. 
They  were  visited  by  the  Jesuit  missionaries ;  and  Fathers  Allonez 
and  Dablon,  in  1674,  met  the  chief  of  the  Miamis,  Tetenchoua, 
with  three  thousand  braves,  at  their  village.  The  fear  of  the 
Sioux  and  the  Iroquois  had  united  those  two  tribes  against  their 
common  enemy.  The  relation  attributed  to  Tonti,  however, 


116  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

mentions  Mansolia,  a  secret  emissary  of  the  Iroquois  of  the 
neighboring  nation  of  Mascontens,  as  having  made  his  appearance 
in  1678  in  the  Illinois  ;  but  we  conceive  very  little  credit  is  to  be 
attached  to  the  work  itself,  as  Tonti,  who  was  lieutenant  of  La 
Salle,  and  accompanied  him  to  Illinois,  where  he  was  left  in 
charge  in  the  absence  of  La  Salle,  denies  the  authorship.  Be 
this  as  it  may,  we  have  no  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  such  a 
nation,  except  the  relations  of  the  Jesuit  fathers,  and  the  name 
given  to  them  on  the  early  maps ;  though  they  appear  to  have 
been  a  very  numerous  tribe.  It  is  possible  they  may  have  been 
entirely  destroyed,  like  the  Heries  by  the  Iroquois,  who  waged  a 
war  of  extermination  against  them,  as  well  as  their  neighbors  the 
Miamis,  the  Kickapoos,  the  Sioux  and  the  Illinois.  "We  shall 
not  follow  La  Salle  in  his  discoveries,  nor  Hennepin,  nor  Tonti's 
account  of  them.  The  last  is  now  known  to  be  fabulous ;  and 
the  first  was  writen  by  the  author,  with  great  prejudice  existing 
towards  La  Salle.  Hennepin  was  the  subject  of  the  king  of 
Spain ;  and  his  amor  patrice  was  by  no  means  agreeable  to  the 
courtly,  polished,  and  French  La  Salle.  The  French  were  at 
war  with  the  Spaniards ;  and  one  of  the  vessels  of  his  squadron 
had  been  captured  at  St.  Domingo  by  two  Spanish  pirogues. 
This  circumstance  by  no  means  helped  to  conciliate  these  sub- 
jects of  two  rival  nations  ;  and  it  is  evident  from  reading  "  Le 
voyage  en  un  pays,  plus  grand  que  1'Europe,  entre  la  mer  glaciale 
et  le  Nouveau  Mexique,"  that  the  prejudices  of  Father  Hennepin, 
even  the  unfortunate  and  untimely  death  of  the  Sieur  La  Salle 
had  not  mitigated.  His  works,  therefore,  must  be  taken  with 
Borne  grains  of  allowance ;  though  in  the  main,  furnishing  some 
important  particulars  in  reference  to  the  early  discoveries  in  the 
northwest.  He  accompanied  La  Salle  on  his  expedition  to  the 
Illinois,  and  gives  a  very  lively,  but  very  romantic  picture  of  this 
nouvel  pays.  In  the  midst  of  much  chaif,  there  are  some  grains 
of  wheat  to  be  gathered  in  the  works  of  the  reverend  father ;  and 
after  nearly  two  centuries,  we  must  be  thankful  even  for  the  few 
details  which,  in  the  relations,  the  works  of  Marquette,  Allonez, 
Hennepin,  Tonti,  Hontan  and  Charlevoix,  have  come  down  to 
UB.  That,  in  the  archives  of  the  French  government,  in  those  of 


THE  EARLY  JESUIT  MISSIONARIES.  117 

the  superior  of  the  Jesuits,  in  the  records  in  Quebec,  much  in- 
teresting matter  might  be  found  connected  with  this  subject,  is 
beyond  a  doubt.  The  historian  of  the  northwest  will  have  a 
task  in  collecting  the  materials;  the  collating  of  them  when 
gathered  would  be  a  work  of  but  little  labor.  Two  centuries 
have  elapsed  since  the  Jesuit  fathers  launched  their  bark  canoes 
on  the  waters  of  the  Illinois.  "Where  now  are  the  rude  temples 
which  these  pious  men  dedicated  in  the  wilderness  to  the  service 
of  the  ever  living  God  ?  Where  the  fathers  themselves  ?  Where 
the  memorials  of  their  worship  ?*  Where  their  neophytes  ? 
Where  the  red  men  of  the  forest  who  lingered  around  the  symbols 
of  the  Christian's  faith,  and  bending  before  the  sign  by  which 
they  were  spiritually  conquered,  worshiped  the  Manitou  of  the 
stranger,  and  yielded  obedience  to  the  heralds  of  the  cross? 
Echo  answers  —  Where  ?  The  monuments  of  their  piety  are 
broken  down.  Each  succeeding  winter's  gale,  each  summer's 
sun,  for  a  century  and  a  half,  has  but  made  their  destruction 
more  certain.  So  that  now,  "  even  the  places  which  once  knew 
them,  know  them  no  more  for  ever.'1  The  hiss  of  the  snake 
may  now  be  heard,  where  once  ascended  the  Te  Deum  Laudamus. 
The  harsh  cry  of  the  raven  and  the  melancholy  whoop  of  the  owl 
answer  now,  where  once  responded  the  aborigines  of  the  forest 
to  the  morning  matin  and  evening  vesper.  But  the  untutored 
yet  faithful  worshiper  is  gone.  The  grass  of  the  prairie,  long 
and  coarse,  waves  over  the  graves  of  the  curate  and  his  flock. 
And  where  once  ascended  the  notes  of  praise  and  thanksgiving, 
the  thistle  rears  its  tall  head  in  triumph ;  the  nettle  and  the  fox- 
glove, and  the  deadly  night-shade  thrive  undisturbed;  or  perhaps 
the  sturdy  settler,  as  "  he  drives  his  team  a-field,"  runs  his  furrows 
over  the  bones  of  the  accomplished,  learned,  enterprising  and 
zealous  Jesuit  fathers,  who,  nearly  two  centuries  since,  left  the 
cloisters  of  Paris,  or  the  Seminary  of  Quebec,  to  carry  the  banner 
of  the  cross  to  the  tribes  who  dwelt  on  the  Father  of  Waters. 
Fallen  obelisks,  broken  head-stones,  and  mossy  tombs,  nowhere 


1  The  newspapers  state,  that  in  digging  a  cellar  for  a  house  lately  at  Green  Bay,  where  the  first 
Catholic  church  was  erected  by  the  Jesuits,  a  silver  plate  —  evidently  a  part  of  the  communion 
service  —  was  found,  with  an  inscription  in  French,  dated  1681 . 


118  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

mark  the  resting  places  of  these  great  and  good  men  —  the 
pioneers  of  civilization  and  Christianity  in  the  western  wilds ; 
and  as  the  antiquarian  searches  for  some  slight  memorial  of  these 
holy  men  —  of  the  places  which  they  once  inhabited  on  the  bor- 
ders of  the  lake,  the  shores  of  the  Illinois  or  the  Mississippi  — 
the  modern  preemptioner  looks  with  jealousy  at  the  stranger, 
and  imagines  that  the  corners  of  sections,  quarter  sections,  and 
forty  acre  tracts,  excite  his  curiosity,  or  awaken  the  avarice  of 
the  speculating  land  hunter  —  a  melancholy  but  certain  lesson 
relative  to  those  changes  which  are  constantly  going  on  with 
empires  as  with  men.  Time,  in  its  resistless  course,  as  it  sweeps 
on  to  eternity,  whispers  of  the  one,  as  well  as  the  other,  "  THEY 

WHO  SLEEP  HERE,  ARE  SOON  FORGOTTEN  !  " 


NOTE. —  It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  know  the  successors 
of  Father  Marquette  in  the  Illinois  mission,  down  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  18th  century,  and  their  fate.  It  is  a  melan- 
choly tale  of  suffering  and  death  ;  and  an  evidence  of  the  warmth, 
zeal,  and  piety  of  these  faithful  followers  of  the  cross  —  a  zeal 
and  piety,  which  might  put  to  shame  many  of  their  Protestant 
successors. 

Father  Gabriel  Lambronde,  Jesuit,  went  missionary  to  the 
Illinois  in  1678 ;  was  slain  at  his  mission  in  1680. 

Father  Maxime  Le  Clerc  went  to  the  Illinois  in  1678;  was 
killed  by  the  Indians  in  1687. 

Father  Zenobe  Mambre,  Kecollet,  went  to  the  Illinois  in  1678 ; 
and  returned  in  1680,  employed  in  visiting  the  tribes  on  the 
Mississippi. 

Father  Louis  Hennepin  went  to  the  Illinois  in  1678  with  La 
Salle  ;  occupied  in  making  discoveries  on  the  Mississippi ;  re- 
turned in  1680. 

M.  Jean  Bergier,  mentioned  as  the  successor  of  Father  Pinet, 
priest  of  the  Seminary  of  Quebec,  went  to  the  Illinois  in  1686 ; 
was  at  the  Tamarois  or  Cahokia  mission,  died  there  in  1699 ;  was 
buried  by  Father  Mares  t,  who  was  in  the  mission  to  the  Kas- 
kaskias. 

M.  Philip  Beucher,  priest  of  the  Seminary  of  Quebec,  was  sent 


THE  EARLY  JESUIT  MISSIONARIES.  119 

to  the  Tamarois  or  Cahokia  mission,  to  assist  M.  Bergier ;  re- 
mained with  him  until  1696,  when  he  went  to  visit  the  Arkansas 
and  other  Indian  tribes  on  the  lower  Mississippi ;  returned  and 
died  at  Peoria  in  1719. 

In  1692,  Father  Louis  Hyacinth  Simon,  went  as  missionary  to 
St.  Louis,  Peoria ;  went  from  there  in  1694  to  visit  the  different 
establishments  and  posts  on  the  Mississippi ;  returned  to  Quebec 
in  1699. 

Father  Florentin  Flavr6,  Jesuit  priest,  went  to  the  Illinois  in 
1694  ;  established  a  mission  on  the  Mississippi ;  descended  that 
stream  in  1708  to  Natchez ;  returned  to  Illinois  in  1709  ;  remained 
there  until  his  death  in  1713. 

Father  Julien  Benettau,  Jesuit  priest,  went  to  the  Illinois  in 
1696  ;  labored  at  the  mission  of  St.  Louis  with  great  success; 
died  there  in  1709. 

M.  Francois  Joliet  de  Montigney,  priest,  in  1696  was  sent  to 
Louisiana  in  the  character  of  vicar-general,  by  the  bishop  of 
Quebec.  He  visited  the  missions  in  Illinois,  St.  Louis,  the 
Tamarois  or  Tahokias,  while  M.  Bergier  was  there,  traversed  the 
whole  country,  and  returned  to  Quebec  in  1718. 

M.  Michael  Antoine  Gamelin,  priest  of  the  Seminary  of  Quebec, 
accompanied  him.  They  descended  the  Mississippi,  and  went 
as  far  as  Mobile. 

Father  Gabriel  Marest,  Jesuit,  went  to  the  Illinois  in  1699 ; 
fixed  his  residence  at  Kaskaskia ;  died  there  in  1727. 

Father  Antoine  Darion,  priest,  went  in  1700  on  a  mission  to  the 
Tunicas,  a  tribe  living  on  the  Mississippi ;  and  adjoining  the 
Natchez.  He  went  from  Quebec, 


COMPARATIVE  VOCABULARIES  OF  THE  SEMINOLE 
AND  MIKASUKE  TONG  UES. ' 

BY  BUCKINGHAM  SMITH. 

These  words  were  recently  taken  down  in  "Washington  from 
the  mouth  of  a  Seminole  delegation  from  Arkansas  —  Foos-harjo, 
an  educated  Indian,  and  Johnson,  a  black,  speaking  the  Mvskoke, 
and  Chocot-harjo,  the  Mikasuke,  the  last  communicating  through 
the  Mvskoke,  and  sometimes  himself  writing  out  the  words  in 
his  own  tongue.  The  Indians  were  born  in  Florida,  the  negro 
in  Alabama. 

Major  Caleb  Swan,  U.  S.  A.,  in  a  report  to  the  department  of 
war  respecting  the  Seminoles  in  the  year  1790-1,  states  that  they 
were  inhabiting  country  in  Alabama,  Florida  and  the  state  of 
Georgia ;  and,  according  to  tradition,  that  they  came  originally 
in  roving  bands  from  the  northwest  with  the  name  Seminole  ; 
that  subsequently  they  conquered  the  Alabamas,  and,  according 
to  their  policy,  united  that  people  to  their  own  nation,  called 
Mvskoke ;  that  later,  the  Apalaches  were  added,  and,  at  the 
time  of  writing,  he  speaks  of  their  having  Mikasuka  and  some 
other  permanent  villages  on  the  Apalachicola  river.  The  lan- 
guage had  then  undergone  so  great  change  among  the  wandering 
hordes,  still  called  Seminoles,  that  it  was  hardly  understood  by 
the  Creeks  (Mvskokes  inhabiting  fixed  settlements),  or,  in  gene- 
ral, even  by  themselves.  It  must  be  remembered,  that,  at  the 
time  he  writes  the  nation  had  already  added  to  their  number  the 
remnants  of  the  Alabamas  or  Coosadas,  Uchees,  batches,  Hitchi- 
tis  and  Shauanos,  with  their  several  languages,  six  constituting 
the  number  spoken  by  the  members  of  the  confederacy. 

The  Hitchitis  resided  on  the  Flint  and  Chatahooche  rivers. 
They  are  near  of  kin  to  the  Mikasukes,  to  judge  from  the  words 
of  a  small  vocabulary  taken  by  Mr.  Gallatin  from  a  Chelaqui, 
reprinted  here  with  numerals  taken  at  Tampa  by  Capt.  Casey, 

1  Reprinted  from  The  Historical  Magazine  (Morrisania,  N.  Y.),  for  August,  1866. 


COMPARATIVE  VOCABULARIES. 


121 


and  entitled:  " Hitchittee  or  Chel-o-kee  Dialect,  spoken  by 
several  trib'es  of  the  great  Muskokee  Race."  Those  speaking 
the  Mikasuke  in  Florida  probably  went  from  Georgia  with  the 
Mvskoke  family,  and  some  of  them,  at  the  time  of  the  cession  of 
the  province  to  the  United  States  by  Spain,  were  living  at  a  well- 
known  lake  bearing  their  name.  From  names  borne  by  geo- 
graphical objects,  they  appear  to  have  widely  extended  their 
wanderings  over  the  peninsula. 

Whatever  may  be  the  theoretic  history  of  the  early  migration 
of  the  Seminoles  or  Mvskokes,  this  much  seems  certain :  the 
meaning  of  the  word  seminole  is  wanderer,  strayed  off,  and  is  ap- 
plied to  the  nomadic  Mvskoke;  that,  while  traditions  among 
an  unlettered  people  become  vague  and  uncertain  in  less  than 
three  generations  from  the  time  of  the  event  they  would  com- 
memorate, names  preserved  in  the  narratives  of  the  march  of 
Hernando  de  Soto,  attest  that  the  Mvskoke  language  was  in  use 
among  the  Indians  of  Georgia,  over  three  centuries  since. 

ENGLISH.  SEMINOLE.  MIKASUKE.  HITCHITEE. 

Sound  of  the  vowels :  a  as  in  far,  e  as  in  they,  i  as  in  marine,  o  as  in  go,  v  as  in  gun. 


man 

woman 

old  woman 

boy 

girl 

infant 


hvnvnwa 
hokte 

chipane 
choktoche 
istoche,  hipoachee 


my  father  (said   by 

son)  chalskee 

my  father  (said  by 

daughter) 
my  mother  (said  by 


son) 


chvtskee 


my  mother  (said  by 

daughter)  " 

my  husband  chahee 

my  wife  chahaiua 

my     son    (said    by 

father)  chvpuchee 

my    son    (said    by 

mother)  chvtshusua 

my  daughter  (said  by 

father)  chvtshuste 

my  daughter  (said  by 

mother)  chvtshusua 

my  elder  brother  chvtslaha 
my  younger  brother  chachose 
sister  chauanua 

my  elder  sister          hoktala 


my  younger  sister 
an  Indian 


nakvni 

taikee 

konchaka 

ahlehloce 

taikoche 

iatoche 

tate 

ohalhke 

hoache 


vnnvk'ne 
chahvlke 

achoche 


achostaike 


chachaie 
chaiapose 
hamochaca 
chafvnke 


nuckenih 
hohlagih 

auchebanotche 
autech  auchee 


ilgih 


ahgih 

enukenih 
chahulgih 

auchee 


auchooouhgtda 


chanunua  manitka    chafvn  ochapaca 
iste  chate  iatketesche 


122 


THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 


ENGLISH. 

SEMINOLE. 

MIKASUKE. 

HITCHITEE. 

people 

iste 

iaton 

head 

ica 

iose 

hair 

ica  ise 

ios  hiske 

face 

itothlofa 

tafokee 

forehead 

icahoma  iuinha 

thlafeele 

ear  (his) 

ihustsko 

hakehobe 

eye  (his) 

itolhua 

ete 

nose 

iupo 

ebe 

inouth 

ichukua 

eichi 

tongue 

tolasua 

cholase 

teeth 

iniitee 

enote 

beard 

chukhisse 

choske 

neck 

nvkua 

nokbe 

arm 

sakpa 

thlokfe 

hand 

inke 

elbe 

fingers 

uisaka 

ilbe  uisake 

thumb 

inkitski 

ilbeke 

nails 

inkikosusua 

ilbakose 

body 

ina 

achakne 

chest 

ohokpe 

chonoke 

belly 

nulhke 

Ivmpe 

female  breasts 

ipisi 

moache 

leg 

ele 

eeie 

foot 

ile 

elepalase 

toes 

ileuasaka 

cuesake 

bone 

fane 

efone 

heart 

chafike 

chonosbe 

chifegaut 

blood 

chata 

pechekche 

bitchikchee 

town,  village 

talofa 

oele 

ochgiliohgih 

chief 

micko 

mikei 

mickee 

warrior 
friend 

iusikyavlge  (all) 
anhise 

tusikiahlhe 
achatne 

tustenuggee 
ahchormih 

house 

choko 

chiki 

chickee 

bread 

tvklaike 

pvlvste 

kettle 

chalkvs  hvtke 

ieckhahatkee 

bow 

ichokotakse 

iftchekotokbi 

arrow 

thi 

slakee 

axe,  hatchet 

pochusua 

chiafe 

knife 

islafka 

eskvlvfkee 

canoe 

pithlochee 

pithlochee 

moccasins 

chuse  iste  libika 

chuse  uelee  (buckskin) 

pipe 

iche  pakua 

taloobe 

tobacco 

ichi 

akchvme 

sky 

aholoche 

hossote 

sun 

hasse 

haase 

hahsohdih 

moon 

hoslibu 

haso  tale 

hahsodalih 

star 

cochochompa 

oache  ke 

ohwohchikee 

day 

nitta 

nihtaki 

uhbuksee 

night 

nihli 

nihthlaki 

mohsoostee 

morning 

huthijutki 

hampole 

evening 

iatke 

opivs 

spring 

tasahchi 

Ivkhachoslas 

summer 

miske 

Ivkhache 

autumn 

winter 

slafo 

slafi 

wind 

hotali 

fapliche 

thunder 

tinitki 

tonohkahche 

toknoukkee 

lightning 
rain 

atoiohatti 
oske 

lamalecheeche 
okobache 

COMPARATIVE  VOCABULARIES. 


123 


ENGLISH. 

SEMINOLE. 

MIKASUKE. 

HITCHITEE. 

snow 

etote 

epjtivele 

fire 

tootka 

ete 

edih 

water 

oiva 

ohke 

okkee 

ice 

etote 

epte 

earth,  land 

icana 

iakne 

sea 

oihatka 

okatke 

river 

oislako 

okichobe 

lake 

okhasse 

aiope,  okelose 

valley 

oihossi,  panofi 

i          penatke 

prairie 

hiakpo 

hiatle 

hill,  mountain 

ican  halue 

iacnebeke 

island 

oti,  houitska 

okantakle 

stone,  rock 

chat6 

tale 

salt 

okchanva 

okchahni 

ochchahnih 

iron 

kochone 

forest 

ituvlkate 

pahayoke 

tree,  wood 

itu 

ahi 

ahlee 

leaf 

tuisi 

ahihiske 

bark 

itohulhpe 

ahehnlbe 

grass 

pahe 

pahe 

pine 

chole 

choie 

maize 

ache 

aspe 

usppe 

squash 

tahaia 

chicoie 

flesh,  meat 

apesua 

akne 

dog 

ita 

efe 

buffalo 

ianasa 

ianase 

bear 

nopose 

ianse 

nogasaut 

wolf 

iaha 

oba  hose 

ohboorhoose 

fox 

chola 

chole 

deer 

echo 

eche 

echee 

elk 

chopieka 

eichhoke 

beaver 

eichhasua 

posafe 

rabbit,  hare 

chofe 

chokfe 

tortoise 

locna 

iokche  . 

horse 

cholako 

cauaie 

fly 

chana 

choane 

mosquito 

okieha 

hoskotone 

snake 

chittoo 

chinte 

rattlesnake 

chi'ttoo  miko 

chintmike 

bird 

fosua 

foose 

egg 

itshostake 

onase 

feathers 

tafa 

hiske 

,  wings 

italhpa 

tolokbe 

goose 

sasakua 

hoshale 

duck  (mallard) 

foch6 

fooche 

turkey 

pinua 

faiti 

pigeon 

pachi 

pachi 

fish 

thathlo 

thlathle 

name 

ochifka 

ochilke 

white 

hvtke 

hvtke 

black 

Ivste 

looche 

red 

chate 

ketesche 

light  blue 

holatte 

onotbe 

yellow 

lane 

[like)  lakvne 

light  green 

pahi  lanomi 

(looks    pahetalukchome 

great,  large 

slakke 

choobe 

small,  little 

chukki 

uikchosis 

strong 

yikchi 

uante 

old 

achuli 

naknosi 

young 

mvniti 

ojahbi 

good 

heintle 

heintlos 

124 


THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 


ENGLISH. 


SEMINOLE. 


MIKASUKE. 


HITCHITEE. 


bad 

holouak                     humpikos 

dead 

ili                               eie 

alive 

uinaki                         fisahke 

cold 

kasuppi                     kabalekosche 

warm,  hot 

have                          haieche 

am                              ani 

thou 

chiimi                         chihni 

he 

imi                              inihni 

we 

pomi                           pohni 

ye 

chintaki                      chenoche 

they 

imetahke                    inenohche 

this 

hiama                         iyale 

that 

ma                             mame 

all 

omulka                      laapke 

many,  much 

anachome                  anakapen 

who 

istaiinut                      nohlote 

far 

opaie                          opvnke 

near 

ahole                          auelosis 

here 

yania                          yale 

there 

ma                              mami 

to-day 

mochanetta               emanetaki 

yesterday 

paksangke                 opiahchama 

to-morrow 

pakse                         paksaka 

yes 

enca                            ho 

no 

ecosche                      mates 

one 

hvmkin                      thlamen 

thlali'  hai 

two 

hokolen                      toklan 

to  kai 

three 

totchinen                   tocliinan 

to  chay 

four 

oosten                        citaken 

see  tab 

five 

chaskepen                  chaskepvu 

chah  kee 

six 

ipaken                       ipaken 

ee  pak 

seven 

colapaken                  colapaken 

ko  lapah 

eight 

chinapaken                tosnapaken 

tos  nap  pah 

nine 

ostapaken                  ostapaken 

os  ta  pah 

ten 

palen                         pokolen 

po  kolin 

eleven 

hvmkon  talaken        tklauaikvn 

po  thlah'  wai  kan 

twelve 

hokolokaken             toklauaican 

twenty 

pale  hokolen              poco  toklan 

po  ko  to  ko  lin 

thirty 

totchinen                     totchinan 

forty 

osten                            sitaken 

fifty 

chaskepen                   chaskepen 

sixty 

ipaken                          lepaken 

seventy 

kola  paquen                kolapaken 

eighty 

chinapaken                 tosnapaken 

ninety 

ostapaken                    lostapaken 

one  hundred 

chokpi  hvmkin  [kin  chokpi  thlamen 

chok  pee  thlah'  min 

one  thousand 

chokpi  thloko  hvm-     "      chobi  thlamen 

to  eat 

hvmpita                    einpike 

to  drink 

iskita                          iskeke 

to  run 

litkita                         isthnitkiki 

to  dan 

litkita                          isthnitkiki 

to  sing 

iahaikita                     hopvnke 

to  sleep 

nochita                       nocheke 

to  speak 

opoonaita                   apvnke 

to  see 

hechita                       hecheke 

to  love 

anokichita                 anokachike 

to  kill 

ille  ichita                   illi  chike 

to  sit 

laikita                        chokoliki 

to  stand 

hoythlita                   hachaleke 

COMPARATIVE  VOCABULARIES. 


125 


ENGLISH. 

to  go 

to  come 

to  walk 

to  work 

to  steal 

to  lie 

to  give 

to  laugh 

to  cry 

alligator 

slave 

cane 

pumpkin 

turtle 

wildcat 

ravine 

brier-root  flour 

high 

low 

flute 

gourd 

ghost 

opossum 

raccoon 

persimmon 

hawk 

owl 

tiger 

bean 


8EMINOLE. 

ayeta 

atita 

yakapita 

atotketa 

holskopita 

laksita 

em  eta 

apilita 

hacaihkita 

hvlpata 

salvfki 

coha 

chase 

olakaa 

coaki 

panasofki 

kunti 

hvlui 

kunchapi 

flhpa 

iphipi 

sokha  hatka 

uulko 

sata 

aiu 

opa 

kacha 

talako 


MIKASTJKE. 

athleki 

onteke 

chaiake 

tnkalskake 

okepeke 

olaske 

emekeke 

haiakeki 

hilaihkiki 

hvlpati 

anope 

othlane 

chokse 

ilakue 

koosi 

kantiki 

abvnti 

iakne 

conbokachichiki 

iphipi 

solope 

sokeasikeni 

shaue 

othkofe 

akale 

opake 

koachobe 

shalale 


PEOPEK  NAMES,  WITH  THEIR  SIGNIFICATIONS. 


Istopoga,  iste  atepogo,  person  drowned. 

Sem. 

Okichobe,  okl  chobe,  water  big.    Mik. 
Halpatioka,  hvlpati  oka,  alligator  many. 

Mik. 

Wekiwa,  water  spring.     Sem. 
Pilatka,  waca  ok  pilatka,  driving  many 

cows  across.     Sem. 

Pithlo-chokco,  boat  house  (ship).  Sem. 
Oclawaha,  water  muddy  in  there.  Mik. 
Tohopkilige,  tohopki  laiki,  fort  site. 

Sem. 
Locktshapopka,  locktsfia  popka,  acorn  to 

eat.     Sem. 
Hichepoksasa,  Jiihepok  sassa,  pipe  many. 

Sem. 

Wekiwache,  otva  vclie,  water.    Sern. 
Homosasa,  homo  sassa,    pepper  many. 

Sem. 


Echashotee,  echas  hotee,  beaver  his  house. 

Sem. 

Choko-chate,  house  red.  Sem. 
Choko-liska,  house  old.  Sem. 
Panasoffke,  pane  sofke,  valley  deep. 

Sem. 
Withlacooche,  oiva  slakke  uche,   water 

long,  narrow.     Sem. 
Chase-howi  ska,  pumpkin  kay.    Sem. 
Alaqua  (hiliqua  ?)  sweet  gum.     Sem. 
Fenholloway,  fenholoue,  young  turkey. 

Sem. 

Oklokne,  okeloknee,  much  bent.     Sem 
Etawa,  one  polling  (a  boat).     Sem. 
Etenaiah,  scrub.     Sem. 
Econholloway,  icana  halue,  earth  high. 

Sem. 


THE  LORD'S  PRAYER  IN  MiKASUKE.1 

In  the  last  number  of  The  Historical  Magazine  was  published 
some  vocabularies  of  the  Indian  languages,  to  which  is  now  added 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  given  by  one  of  the  chiefs.  As  he  did  not 
speak  English,  and  as  the  letters  did  not  appear  to  be  the  same 

1  From  The  Historical  Magazine  for  September,  1866. 


126  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

as  ours,  and  perhaps,  if  identical,  not  sounded  the  same,  it  was 
sent  to  Washington  to  be  verified,  and  is  now  printed  as  it  comes, 
rewritten  by  the  competent  ability  of  George  Gibbs,  Esq.,  who 
says,  beyond  this  :  "  I  tried  to  get  something  approaching  a  literal 
"  translation,  but  it  was  beyond  either  the  comprehension  of  In- 
dian, negro,  or  white  man."  B.s. 

Ma-minn      a-ka-minn      mi-ko-sa-pits     pokhlki        a-bun-ti 
And  now  pray  our  father         high 

tcho-ko-lits         ka-kat        tche-ho-tchif-kot  hol-lat-tish. 

sits  there     thy  name  [be  praised]  great 

Ma-minn  tche-hai-at-lektchot     •   e  la-tish  monti        a-biinti 

And  thy  glory  be  it  heaven 

na-ki        a-ke-lets-ka-kd        6-me-kat        ma-mi-tcha-lot     ya-leh 

as  thou  wishest        like 
yak-a-nun'     o-makh-me-tish. 

Mkh'-tak-a-lamp'-un  pa-las'h-te  et-le-che-ka-ka  6-men  he-man- 
e-tak'-e  po-me  gis. 

Ma-mik'h  na-ki  po-ma-ta-kun  pun'-ka-pa-ye-cha-chish  na-ki 
po-ma-tukh  e-lengh-kap  pa-ye-chan-chi'-ka-ka  o-me-cha  liin. 

Shdt-o-pakh-ki'-kun  po-ba  nah  sho-na-ba-kun  shi-po  na-litsh 
kish  ma-mish-ka  ham-pa-kun  po-tla-nas-chish  me-ki-kot  tche-nd- 
kosh  wan'-te-e-kot  tche-na-kosh  ma-minn  tchobe-e  kot  tche-na- 
ke  e-mong  kot  om-mish. 


A  SIO  UX  VISION—  THICK-HEADED-HORSE'S 
DEEAM.^ 

BY  JOHN  HALLAM. 

In  May,  1845,  Calvin  Jones,  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
hunters  and  trappers  our  frontier  has  produced,  went  on  a  trading 
expedition  to  Whirlwind's  village,2  in  the  southeastern  part  of 
what  is  now  known  as  Dakota  territory.  Whilst  there,  he  met 
Thick-Headed-Horse,  a  Sioux  Indian,  whom  he  describes  as  one 
of  the  most  intelligent  of  his  race,  possessed  of  poetic  fancy,  a 
remarkable  command  of  language  and  withal  the  best  orator  he 
ever  heard  amongst  the  aboriginal  tribes.  He  delighted  to  be  in 
the  society  of  intelligent  white  men,  and  never  tired  in  relating 
to  them  his  experience  and  observations.  During  this  visit,  he 
related  the  following  strange  dream  to  Mr.  Jones,  to  whom  the 
writer  is  indebted  for  it. 


I  went  out  alone  with  my  gun,  bow  and  knife,  to  hunt  buffaloes 
in  the  rich  meadows  arid  valleys,  towards  the  land  of  the  Dakotas. 
I  stood  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  plain,  covered  with  waving  grasses 
and  smiling  flowers.  The  air  was  freighted  with  sweet  incense, 
and  laughing  waters  sung  to  the  flowers  as  they  rushed  on 
through  the  wild  meadows.  My  heart  was  filled  with  sunshine, 
and  I  loved  the  God  who  created  and  gave  this  land  to  the 
Sioux. 

Whilst  I  stood  wrapped  in  meditation,  in  the  midst  of  this 
enchanted  scene,  I  looked  across  the  plain  and  discovered  what 
I  conceived  to  be  a  buifalo  approaching  me,  and  secreted  myself 
to  await  its  approach.  Presently  it  drew  near,  but  I  could  see 
nothing  but  its  head  and  part  of  its  forelegs  which  supported  it. 
The  tall  grass  concealed  the  body  from  view.  In  my  effort  to 
discover  the  body,  I  could  see  nothing  but  the  grass  waving,  for 

1  Reprinted  from  The,  Inland  Magazine  (St .  Louis),  for  June,  1876.    Revised  by  the  author  for 
The  Indian  Mitcellany. 
»  Whirlwind  was  a  noted  Sioux  chief. 


128  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

four  hundred  yards  to  the  rear.  This  surprised  and  aroused  my 
Indian  suspicion  and  curiosity  to  their  utmost  capacity,  and  I 
was  tempted  to  run,  but  my  curiosity  proved  stronger  than  my 
fear,  and  I  stood  still. 

The  animal  continued  to  advance,  and  I  soon  discovered  that 
it  was  a  monster  snake,  with  the  head  and  forelegs  of  a  buffalo. 
I  was  now  greatly  alarmed,  and  my  gun  and  bow  fell  to  the 
ground,  whilst  I  stood  paralyzed,  and  involuntarily  suffered  the 
monster  to  enclose  me  within  its  coil.  In  this  condition,  for  a 
few  moments,  I  stood  speechless  and  motionless,  whilst  the 
monster  darted  its  tongue  out  thirty  feet.  I  gazed  into  its 
brilliant  eyes,  that  glistened  like  a  mirror  in  the  sun,  until  I  was 
seized  with  a  potent  charm,  which  dispelled  all  fear,  supplanted 
the  normal  state  of  my  nature  and  transfused  a  new  existence 
into  my  body.  An  irresistible  inclination  then  seized  me  to 
mount  and  ride  the  animal,  and  I  threw  myself  astride  its  neck 
and  seized  its  horns  for  support. 

The  animal  then  lengthened  itself  out  and  started  at  the  velo- 
city of  one  hundred  miles  an  hour,  towards  the  rising  sun,  and 
carried  me  at  this  high  rate  of  speed  near  two  thousand  miles 
without  halting.  Rivers,  mountains,  plains  and  forests  whirled 
around  in  a  ceaseless  circuit,  and  I  was  filled  with  delight,  in- 
fused with  undefined  fear.  The  excitement  supported  my  strength 
for  a  much  greater  period  than  the  normal  state  of  the  body  could 
sustain,  but  this  acquired  strength  began  gradually  to  wane,  with 
the  curiosity  which  imparted  it,  and  the  physical  powers  began 
to  assert  their  claims  to  repose. 

At  this  crisis,  the  neck  of  the  animal  distended  and  assumed 
the  shape  of  a  beautiful  carriage,  and  the  scales  widened  into 
oval-shaped  windows,  as  transparent  as  the  clearest  crystal.  In 
the  left  hand  corner  of  the  apartment  thus  created,  hung  a  snow- 
white  curtain,  made  of  the  downy  skin  of  a  swan,  which  con- 
cealed a  small  apartment. 

Curiosity  impelled  me  to  draw  this  curtain  aside,  and  I  beheld 
the  uncooked  saddle  of  an  antelope  lying  on  a  wickerwork  of 
willow  twigs  and  beside  it  the  white  skull  of  Wanawanda  (a 
great  Sioux  war-chief,  who  had  died  a  thousand  years  before), 


A  Sioux  VISION.  129 

filled  with  a  crystal  liquid.  Hunger  and  thirst,  which  I  had  not 
felt  until  now,  attacked  and  impelled  me  to  partake  of  the  en- 
chanted feast  before  me.  I  seized  the  meat  and  drew  it  forth, 
but  it  fell  from  my  grasp,  on  the  cushion  before  me,  and  a  fire, 
covered  with  strange  wickerwork,  instantly  appeared  under  it 
and  commenced  roasting  the  meat.  Above  the  fire  a  square 
chimney,  beautifully  checkered  with  figures  of  red,  yellow, 
purple  and  white  diamonds,  pierced  the  roof,  and  conducted  the 
smoke  away.  When  the  meat  was  roasted,  I  took  it  off  the  fire, 
and  the  spit  dissolved  and  disappeared  in  a  white  mist.  The  meat 
surpassed  in  flavor  and  excellence  anything  the  imagination  can 
picture  to  mortals.  I  then  picked  up  the  skull  of  Wanawanda 
and  drank  from  it  a  nectar  sweeter  and  more  delicious  than 
fiction  ever  pictured  for  an  Indian  god.  When  I  set  the  skull 
down,  it  dissolved  and  was  transformed  into  a  fairy  picture  repre- 
senting a  beautiful  landscape,  covered  with  many  thousand  young 
Sioux  warriors  arrayed  in  costumes  of  great  beauty  and  brilliancy, 
mounted  on  horses  of  surpassing  beauty  and  speed. 

My  BufFalo-snake-horse  was  still  traveling  to  the  east,  with 
unabated  celerity.  We  were  now  passing  through  the  canon  of 
a  mighty  range  of  mountains,  and  I  looked  out  on  them 
for  a  moment,  but  when  I  turned  to  gaze  on  the  picture 
again,  it  had  vanished.  It  was  now  far  into  the  night;  the 
full  moon  was  marching  through  a  cloudless  sky,  the  stars 
glittered  with  renewed  beauty,  and  lent  all  of  their  glory  to 
brighten  every  corner  of  the  heavens.  Again  I  looked  out  through 
the  crystal  windows,  and  saw  that  we  approached  a  range  of 
mountains  twenty  miles  high,  with  almost  perpendicular  sides 
and  no  pass  through  or  over  them.  Here  I  thought  nature 
planted  a  barrier  to  further  progress,  and  that  my  destiny  would 
soon  be  made  known,  the  mysterious  unfolding  of  which  I 
dreaded ;  the  nearer  it  approached,  the  further  off  I  wished  it 
to  be.  I  felt  a  keen  desire  and  curiosity  to  know  it,  but  was  not 
yet  prepared  to  accept  or  embrace  it.  My  heart  thumped  against 
its  walls  of  flesh,  and,  much  against  my  Indian  training  and  in- 
stincts, told  me  that  I  was  a  coward. 

As  we  neared  the  mountain,  my  steed  halted  for  the  first  time, 
10 


130  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

and  stood  upon  its  tail  in  front  of  an  immense  cliff,  and  mounted 
to  the  top.  In  this  way  it  ascended  to  the  summit  and  coiled  its 
way  down  to  an  immense  plain  below,  and  again  proceeded  to- 
wards the  rising  sun,  with  unabated  vigor.  Day  was  now  be- 
ginning to  break  in  the  east,  and  I  fell  asleep  from  physical 
exhaustion.  This  slumber  closed  the  gate  against  the  enchanted 
scenes  around  me,  and  let  in  another  vision  more  true  to  nature, 
to  delight  and  yet  disturb  my  weary  brain. 

This  apparition  came  in  the  form  of  Omarinta  (my  wife),  and 
three  little  hungry  children,  whom  I  much  loved,  and  had  left 
in  our  lodge  on  the  banks  of  the  Wapka  Schicha,  in  the  land  of 
the  Sioux.  They  implored  me  to  return  home  and  not  desert 
them  in  their  hunger  and  destitution.  I  swore  by  all  the  gods 
of  the  Sioux,  to  disenthrall  myself  and  break  away  from  the 
power  of  the  monster.  For  a  moment  my  courage  rose  to  a 
height  worthy  of  the  greatest  warriors  of  my  tribe.  I  drew  my 
knife,  which  was  yet  in  my  belt,  and  attempted  to  cutoff  the  head 
of  the  monster,  but  it  fell  harmlessly  from  my  hand.  The  courage 
inspired  by  the  suffering  condition  and  appeal  of  Omarinta  was 
but  momentary  and  soon  vanished,  to  give  way  to  the  contempla- 
tion of  my  own  helplessness  and  the  scenes  around  me.  At  this 
stage  of  the  wonderful  journey,  I  heard  amighty  roaring  of  waters, 
which  woke  me.  I  looked  out,  and  beheld  my  steed  struggling 
in  the  roaring  waters  of  a  mighty  river,  the  waves  of  which  rose 
and  lashed  each  other  high  over  its  body,  but  it  kept  head  and 
neck  high  above  the  foaming  billows  and  sped  its  onward  course. 
In  an  hour  it  reached  the  shore,  and  gained  a  woodland  country, 
varying  in  every  respect  from  all  the  countries  we  had  passed 
through.  The  people,  fields,  rivers,  mountains  and  animals  were 
much  larger,  but  all  animate  nature  fled  at  the  appearance  of  the 
monster,  and  the  high  rate  of  velocity  which  it  continued  to 
maintain  prevented  closer  observation. 

The  sun  was  again  high  in  the  heavens ;  the  animal  kept  on, 
and  I  wondered  when  it  would  stop.  The  next  moment  a  peal 
of  thunder  leaped  from  its  stormy  throne  in  the  heavens  and  rent 
an  immense  chasm  in  the  earth,  into  which  the  monster  entered, 
and  descended  into  the  earth  with  the  same  velocity  it  had  main- 


A  Sioux  VISION.  131 

tained  in  passing  over  its  surface.  For  awhile  all  was  darkness, 
and  sickening  despair  overwhelmed  me;  but  after  awhile  my 
sense  began  to  return,  and  with  it  a  dark  and  shadowy  light  to 
quicken  my  vision.  This  let  in  a  ray  of  hope,  which  is  more 
tenacious  than  any  faculty  which  animates  the  soul,  and  I  yet 
indulged  the  idea  of  escape  and  deliverance,  but  I  had  no  defined 
idea  of  the  agency  which  was  to  accomplish  my  desires,  and  I  felt 
no  power  within  myself  to  do  it.  The  only  rational  idea  of  escape 
which  I  could  indulge  was,  that  chance  had  made  me  the  victim 
of  a  weird  wizard,  as  strong  as  the  elements  and  swifter  than  the 
wind,  and  that  the  same  agency  could  release  me.  Reason  began 
to  assert  its  sway,  as  time  and  contact  with  the  monster  lessened 
my  terror  and  told  me  that  my  present  destruction  was  not  sought, 
because  that,  if  desired,  was  the  easiest  of  all  things. 

At  sunrise  the  next  day,  we  emerged  into  a  new  and  beautiful 
world,  with  rivers,  meadows,  flowers,  fine  horses  and  an  abundance 
of  game.  At  the  tenth  hour  of  the  morning,  I  looked  ahead  and 
saw  we  were  approaching  an  immense  black  lodge,  with  a  hole 
in  the  basement  story  large  enough  to  admit  my  steed,  into  which 
it  went,  and  dragged  me  off'.  At  this  I  felt  a  sense  of  great  relief, 
but  was  far  from  feeling  either  happy  or  secure  from  danger  in 
this  new  world,  into  which  I  had  been  so  unceremoniously  and 
involuntarily  thrust. 

I  immediately  faced  the  west  and  started  off,  but  had  proceeded 
but  a  few  paces  until  I  heard  a  voice  cry  out,  "  Stop  !  "  I  looked 
up  to  the  eave  of  the  lodge  from  whence  the  voice  proceeded,  and 
saw  twelve  round  apartments  finely  constructed  and  lined  with 
furs,  in  each  one  of  which  stood  a  small  black  man,  looking  and 
laughing  at  me.  This  omen,  or  seeming  mockery  of  my  misfor- 
tune, portended  no  good,  and  I  started  off  again,  at  increased 
speed. 

I  proceeded  but  a  few  paces,  before  a  large,  fine  looking  man 
opened  a  door  in  the  basement  of  the  lodge  and  told  me  to  come 
back  and  get  my  horse.  He  spoke  good  Sioux,  and  I  obeyed 
him,  through  fear,  but  I  bitterly  denied  having  any  horse,  to 
which  the  man  replied,  "  You  dog,  you  rode  one  here  and  you 
shall  take  him  away.  You  can't  leave  such  an  animal  on  my 
premises." 


132  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

After  collecting  my  scattered  and  distorted  faculties  as  well  as 
I  could,  I  told  him  that  I  was  no  designing  or  voluntary  intruder 
into  this  world ;  that  I  had  not  come  by  choice,  but  by  chance, 
over  which  I  had  no  control ;  and  that  I  would  make  my  escape 
as  soon  as  possible,  to  which  he  replied  in  a  modified  tone,  in- 
dicating that  his  harsh  feelings  were  giving  way  a  little. 

"  No  matter  how  you  came  or  what  agency  brought  you ;  if 
you  came  by  chance,  you  can  employ  the  same  agency  to  con- 
duct you  away."  And  he  continued  :  "  That  animal,  sir,  is  the 
devil,  in  his  own  proper  person,  I  have  seen  him  before.  The  people 
in  this  happy  hunting  ground  have  no  use  for  him,  or  any  person 
who  is  as  intimate  with  him  as  you  appear  to  be." 

At  this  speech  I  was  overpowered  with  fear,  trembled  in  every 
limb  and  spoke  in  half  intelligible  sentences.  My  worst  fears 
were  realized.  I  was  with  the  devil,  who  seemed  willing  for  me 
to  escape,  but  another  agency  had  appeared  and  commanded  me 
to  continue  with  him.  When  the  good  old  Sioux  discovered 
this,  his  heart  softened  and  he  took  pity  on  me  and  said,  "  Don't 
be  alarmed,  my  friend,  I  see  you  are  from  the  land  of  the  Sioux, 
in  the  other  world.  I  am  from  that  tribe  myself;  come  into  my 
lodge,  I  will  give  you  food."  I  gladly  obeyed  him  now,  and  he 
gave  me  a  fat  roast  of  buffalo,  and  told  me  I  was  in  the  spirit 
land  and  happy  hunting  ground  of  the  Sioux ;  that  his  name  was 
Spotted  "Wolf,  the  great  medicine  man  of  the  Sioux,  who  was 
shot  on  the  Missouri  river  three  hundred  years  ago,  by  the 
Khea  Indians,  with  a  round  stone  cut  out  of  a  white  buffalo,  the 
only  thing  against  which  his  life  on  earth  was  not  charmed. 

"  You  have  often  heard  of  Spotted  Wolf,"  he  said,  and  I  as- 
sented to  the  supposed  knowledge  and  feigned  great  delight  at 
meeting  him  in  the  happy  hunting  ground,  which  pleased  him 
very  much.  I  then  asked  him  who  the  little  black  men  were  in 
the  upper  story  or  apartments  of  his  lodge,  and  he  said,  "  They 
are  my  little  medicine  men.  I  have  trained  them  to  attend  the 
game  here.  When  game  is  wanted,  I  send  them  after  it.  They 
possess  a  potent  charm  over  all  game  in  the  happy  hunting 
ground." 

He  was  very  communicative  and  seemed  desirous  of  imparting 


A  Sioux  VISION.  133 

to  me  his  whole  stock  of  information,  before  questioning  me. 
With  other  things,  he  said,  "  I  am  a  strong  man,  and  can  run 
that  devil  horse  ot  yours  out  of  the  happy  hunting  ground,  and 
will  show  you  how  to  do  it  yourself,  when  you  sit  and  rest  your- 
self; but  you  must  go  with  him  —  we  have  no  use  for  you  here." 
After  I  had  finished  my  repast  and  rested  a  little,  he  commanded 
me  to  take  a  large  branding  iron,  heat  it  to  a  white  heat  and 
apply  it  to  the  belly  of  the  beast,  and  mount  him.  To  this  I 
dissented  and  told  him  that  if  I  had  to  go  oft  with  the  devil,  that 
I  had  better  keep  on  good  terms  with  him  and  not  make  him 
mad  by  applying  a  hot  iron  to  him.  This  angered  Spotted  Wolf ; 
he  stamped  his  foot  imperiously  on  the  ground  and  ordered  me  to 
immediately  execute  his  orders.  I  obeyed  him  through  fear,  but 
determined,  in  my  own  mind,  not  to  mount  the  devil's  back  after 
burning  him  with  a  hot  iron.  I  much  preferred  to  encounter  the 
displeasure  and  rage  of  Spotted  Wolf  to  that  of  the  devil.  In 
the  execution  of  the  strategy  designed,  I  was  left  no  alternative 
but  apparently  to  obey  the  order ;  so  I  opened  the  door  leading 
to  the  beast,  and  applied  the  hot  iron  as  gently  as  possible.  At 
the  touch  of  the  iron,  he  darted  away  as  quick  as  lightning  and 
prevented,  by  the  celerity  of  his  movement,  any  attempt  to  mount 
his  back,  and  this  relieved  me  from  any  apparent  design  to  dis- 
obey my  order.  Spotted  Wolf  looked  on,  and  saw  that  it  was 
almost  an  impossibility  to  mount  the  animal  after  applying  the 
iron,  and  though  angry,  gave  me  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  in  his 
mind. 

I  now  thought  myself  rid  of  any  further  trouble  with  the  devil, 
and  only  thought  of  devising  means  to  enable  me  to  return  home. 
Spotted  Wolf,  after  the  first  pangs  of  disappointment  passed 
away,  invited  me  to  remain  all  night  with  him,  and  suggested 
that  I  could  take  an  early  start  next  morning.  I  gladly  accepted 
the  proffered  hospitality,  and  hoped  that  the  interval  might  pro- 
fitably be  employed  in  devising  means  to  return  to  my  own  world. 
My  host  gave  me  a  good  and  bountiful  repast  of  roast  deer,  boiled 
corn  and  .broiled  fish.  Then  he  told  one  of  his  children  to  hand 
the  pipes  and  tobacco ;  he  took  one  made  out  of  the  thigh-bone 
of  a  Pawnee  warrior  and  gave  me  one  made  out  of  the  arm-bone 


134  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

of  a  Blackfeet  Indian.  These,  he  said,  were  buried  with  his 
body  after  he  was  killed  by  the  Khea  Indians,  and  were  brought 
by  him  to  the  happy  hunting  ground,  as  reminders  of  his  worth 
and  valor  on  earth.  He  talked  long  and  late  into  the  night,  and 
gave  me  little  opportunity  to  relate  my  own  history  and  import- 
ance. When  he  perceived  that  I  was  weary  and  sleepy,  he  gave 
me  a  fine  robe  and  told  me  to  go  to  sleep.  The  mental  and 
physical  exhaustion  and  torture  which  I  had  now  undergone, 
capacitated  me  to  enjoy  a  profound  slumber.  I  awoke  early  in 
the  morning,  and  Spotted  Wolf  immediately  resumed  conversa- 
tion, and  gave  vent  to  his  curiosity  by  inquiring  into  all  the  de- 
tails of  my  journey  to  the  Spirit  Land. 

I  told  it  to  him  as  it  is  related  to  the  reader,  and  he  listened 
with  profound  attention.  But  he  was  master  of  the  emotions 
which  stirred  his  soul  within  and  suffered  no  movement  of  the 
facial  muscles  to  betray  his  thoughts.  In  this,  he  proved  him- 
self master  of  that  Indian  philosophy  which  teaches  subjection 
and  control  of  the  passions  and  emotions  in  the  face  of  danger, 
as  a  means  of  avoiding  it.  Whilst  relating  my  wonderful  ad- 
ventures, I  eyed  him  intently,  to  discover  if  possible  the  influence 
it  had  upon  him  and  the  corresponding  influence  his  action  might 
exert  on  my  destiny,  and  in  this  I  exerted  all  my  faculties  in  the 
full  strength  of  their  normal  force,  but  was  foiled,  and  discovered 
no  index. 

For  some  moments  after  my  story  was  ended,  he  held  me  in 
painful  suspense  and  doubt,  and  hung  his  head  as  if  in  profound 
meditation,  revolving  the  ominous  meaning  of  my  strange  visit. 

The  first  question  he  asked  me  after  breaking  the  deep  silence 
was,  whether  I  had  died  before  leaving  the  world  from  which  I 
came.  On  being  answered  that  I  had  not,  he  exclaimed,  "  It  is 
impossible ;  no  Sioux  ever  came  to  this  hunting  ground  before 
dying  on  earth." 

A  moment  of  silence  and  profound  agony  to  me  then  ensued. 
An  issue  was  thus  raised  which  I  was  wholly  incapacitated  to 
meet ;  my  integrity  was  flatly  disputed  by  one  whom  I  regarded 
as  superior  in  authority  and  power  over  me,  by  one  whose  fiat 
would  determine  my  destiny.  Hope  died  within  me,  apparently 


A  Sioux  VISION.  185 

to  rise  no  more,  when  Spotted  Wolf  cried  out,  in  a  commanding 
voice,  to  his  attendants,  bidding  them  to  seize  and  bind  me. 
This  command  was  instantly  executed  and  a  council  was  called 
to  dispose  of  me.  As  soon  as  it  assembled,  an  eagle  appeared 
hovering  on  its  wings  over  the  assembly  of  wise  men,  and  cried 
out  in  a  loud  voice,  in  the  language  of  the  Sioux,  "  Turn  him 
loose  and  let  him  go,  turn  him  loose  and  let  him  go."  Conster- 
nation seized  every  member  of  the  assembly,  and  they  all  dis- 
persed, leaving  me  free  to  follow  my  own  volition.  I  then 
proceeded  on  my  journey  five  miles  to  the  west,  and  met  a  great 
war  chief  from  the  Sioux  country,  who  halted  and  spoke  to  me 
in  an  angry  tone.  He  asked  me  what  I  was  doing  in  the  happy 
hunting  ground,  and  I  told  him  that  I  had  not  come  by  choice 
but  by  chance,  and  that  I  was  leaving  as  fast  as  I  could.  To 
which  he  replied,  "  You  must  get  out  of  here  quickly,  sir.  I  am 
the  great  war  chief  of  the  Sioux.  I  was  killed  on  Medicine  Bow 
river,  by  the  Pawnees,  two  hundred  years  ago.  Come  with  me, 
get  your  horse  and  leave  at  once." 

I  told  him  that  I  had  no  horse,  and  he  said,  "  why  do  you 
speak  falsely,  like  a  cowardly  dog;  your  horse  has  your  brand 
on  him,  and  is  now  at  my  lodge;  he  came  there  yesterday." 

I  was  again  stricken  with  fear  and  amazement,  and  dared  not 
dispute  anything  he  said,  or  refuse  to  obey  his  orders.  I  won- 
dered how,  or  through  what  agency  he  knew  all  this.  I  obeyed, 
and  followed  along  after  him  like  a  dog.  We  soon  arrived  at 
his  lodge,  which  was  the  largest  I  had  ever  seen.  It  was  made 
out  of  lion  skins,  finely  dressed  and  painted.  When  we  arrived 
in  front  of  his  lodge,  he  did  not  ask  me  in,  but  said,  "  Your  horse 
is  in  that  rock  lodge,  go  and  mount  him,  and  leave  this  country 
at  once." 

After  this  speech,  his  squaw  presented  herself  and  said,  "  Big 
Lion,  don't  send  the  poor  man  away  on  that  horse ;  he  wants 
to  go  back  to  the  world  he  came  from  ;  you  know  that  horse  will 
never  take  him  back  there.  Have  pity  on  him,  for  the  sake  of 
his  wife  and  children ;  they  are  hungry  and  in  distress  on  the 
banks  of  the  Wapka  Schicha,  in  the  land  of  the  Sioux,  and  have 
no  one  to  provide  for  them." 


136  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

At  this  speech,  hope  revived  in  my  bosom,  and  I  began  to  feel 
joy  in  my  heart.  I  had  found  one  who  espoused  my  cause,  in 
the  land  of  spirits.  But  my  hopes  were  again  crushed,  when 
Big  Lion  replied,  "  I  know  the  horse  will  never  return  to  the 
land  of  the  Sioux,  and  for  this  reason  I  make  Thick-Headed- 
Horse  mount  him ;  I  want  him  to  ride  into  the  land  of  the  Paw- 
nees and  slay  them ;  they  are  the  enemies  of  my  people. 

Big  Lion  and  his  wife  had  a  maiden  child  born  unto  them  in 
the  happy  hunting  ground ;  she  was  then  ten  years  old,  and  was 
dressed  in  a  white  swan  skin.  Her  mother,  after  her  father's 
speech,  called  her  and  told  her  to  bridle  the  poor  man's  horse. 
The  little  maiden  came  at  her  mother's  bidding,  all  radiant  with 
smiles  and  ran  into  an  apartment  of  the  lodge  and  returned  with 
a  bridle,  wrought  of  white  buffalo  hair,  with  silver  bit  and  gold 
rings,  and  beckoned  me  to  follow  her.  I  obeyed,  feeling  power- 
less to  resist.  She  opened  the  door  and  walked  up  to  the  animal, 
devoid  of  fear  and  unconscious  of  danger.  After  bridling  the 
animal,  she  led  it  out  and  held  the  reins  until  I  mounted.  She 
then  waved  her  hand  to  the  north,  and  it  started  at  a  high  rate 
of  speed,  spreading  its  neck  and  folding  the  skin  so  as  to  seat  me 
comfortably.  I  was  conducted  a  distance  of  two  thousand  miles, 
through  this  happy  hunting  ground.  We  next  entered  a  burnt 
forest,  where  everything  was  scorched  and  blackened  with  tire. 
This  burnt  forest  was  five  hundred  miles  in  width.  We  emerged 
from  it  into  an  open,  rolling,  prairie  country,  covered  with  vast 
herds  of  game,  fine  horses,  beautiful  rivers  and  Indian  lodges, 
but  our  speed  was  so  great  that  I  could  not  tell  what  tribe  in- 
habited this  beautiful  country.  On  the  same  evening  of  this 
journey,  we  approached  a  vast  mountain  range,  covered  with 
snow.  As  we  n eared  the  foot-hills,  a  peal  of  thunder  rent  a  great 
chasm  in  the  earth,  into  which  the  monster  entered. 

I  had  now  settled  in  the  conviction  that  I  was  a  child  of  destiny, 
and  was,  for  some  purpose  unknown  to  me,  being  driven  and 
conducted  through  a  vast  network  of  worlds,  by  the  God  who 
created  them  all.  The  fear  which  every  living  creature  possesses, 
began  to  be  exhausted  in  me,  and  the  greatest  source  of  anxiety 
which  I  now  felt,  was  at  the  loss  and  sorrow  of  Omarinta  and 


A  Sioux  VISION.  137 

the  children.  I  was  now  conscious  that  I  was  passing  through 
one  world  into  another,  where  a  great  battle  was  to  be  fought 
with  the  Pawnees,  the  hereditary  enemy  of  the  Sioux.  This 
much  I  divined,  when  Big  Lion  rejected  the  entreaties  of  his 
squaw  in  my  behalf. 

Nature  now  asserted  her  dominion  over  the  physical  body, 
and  I  was  soon  wrapped  in  sound,,  tranquil  slumber,  from  which 
I  awoke  as  we  were  emerging  into  a  world  of  surpassing  beauty. 
I  saw  hills,  valleys,  streams,  plains  and  meadows,  and  great 
quantities  of  game,  tine  horses,  birds  of  rich  plumage,  and  many 
beautiful  Indian  villages. 

At  the  tenth  hour  in  the  day,  I  saw  a  vast  army.  My  steed 
drew  near,  halted,  and  awaited  its  approach.  The  army  spread 
out  on  the  plains  and  enclosed  the  monster  in  a  circle,  which 
gradually  diminished  as  they  cautiously  approached.  They  were 
all  young  Pawnee  warriors,  dressed  in  brilliant  armor,  and 
mounted  on  fine  horses.  When  they  drew  near,  the  monster 
sprang  forward,  threw  its  tail  around,  and  repeated  the  movement 
until  the  army,  amounting  to  one  hundred  thousand,  was  de- 
stroyed. After  this,  the  beast  moved  off  a  few  miles  at  a  slow 
pace,  and  halted.  Then,  to  my  great  amazement,  it  spoke  to  me 
in  good  Sioux,  and  said :  "  The  god  of  the  Sioux  has  chosen  you 
above  all  others  of  your  tribe  to  lead  them.  I  am  the  enchanted 
war-chief  of  the  Sioux  in  the  happy  hunting  ground.  I  was  killed 
eight  hundred  years  ago  on  Snake  river,  by  the  Pawnees  and 
Blackfeet  Indians  in  a  great  battle.  My  name  is  Big  Snake. 
The  god  of  the  Sioux  commanded  me  to  assume  this  shape,  and 
conduct  you  through  the  worlds  as  I  have  done,  that  you  might 
see  all  things  and  become  wise  and  brave  and  the  great  chief  of 
a  mighty  tribe.  All  the  game,  horses,  birds  and  people  which 
you  have  seen,  once  lived  on  earth,  their  spirits  have  been  brought 
hither  to  people  and  populate  all  the  worlds  you  have  seen.  The 
great  country  we  passed  through,  after  crossing  the  mighty  river, 
is  occupied  exclusively  by  Indian  gods  and  their  squaws.  Each 
chief,  after  serving  as  such  in  a  spirit  land  for  one  thousand  years, 
becomes  a  god,  and  settles  on  the  margin  of  the  mighty  river. 
You  have  seen  the  happy  hunting  grounds  of  the  Sioux.  Arapa- 


138  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

hoes,  Cheyennes,  and  Pawnees,  the  Blackfeet  and  Crows,  live  in 
worlds  similar  to  those  you  have  seen.  Henceforth  you  will  be 
invincible  in  battle,  and  will  raise  your  tribe  to  the  greatest 
height  of  power.  You  will  conquer  all  the  nations  who  oppose 
you.  From  hence  you  are  to  return  to  your  tribe  in  a  few  hours. 
Dismount  —  take  your  knife,  go  to  the  end  of  my  tail  and  rip 
open  the  skin,  under  the  border  of  hair  there,  and  you  will  find 
an  enchanted  whistle  and  medicine  bow  made  by  the  god  of  the 
Sioux,  for  you.  With  that  bow,  you  will  slay  thousands  of 
enemies,  and  will  always  be  victorious.  When  you  blow  the 
whistle,  all  your  desires  at  that  moment  will  be  instantly  accom- 
plished. My  mission  is  now  performed.  I  am  no  longer  your 
guardian ;  you  possess  now  as  much  favor  and  power  as  I  do." 

At  this  marvelous  speech,  I  was  amazed  and  bewildered,  and 
doubted  my  own  senses.  I  dismounted,  obeyed  the  order,  and 
found  the  enchanted  bow  and  whistle.  This  gave  me  a  degree 
of  confidence,  but  I  was  still  not  satisfied  that  all  these  marvel- 
ous things  would  prove  to  be  true.  The  transition  from  utter 
dependence  and  helplessness  to  power  so  transcendent  was  too 
great,  and  proved  more  than  my  mind  could  embrace  in  so  short 
a  time.  The  first  thing  I  did,  after  possessing  myself  of  the  bow 
and  whistle,  was  to  tell  the  war  chief  that  I  wanted  a  fine  spotted 
war  horse,  before  he  left  me.  I  still  felt  dependent  and  far  from 
possessing  the  power  his  discourse  indicated.  He  rebuked  me 
sharply,  for  making  such  a  request  of  him,  and  said  :  "  Did  I  not 
tell  you  to  will  and  blow  your  whistle,  and  your  desires  would 
be  gratified  ?" 

I  am  of  a  sensitive  nature,  and  keenly  felt  the  rebuke.  I  had 
suddenly  found  myself  the  possessor  of  vast  power  without  that 
consummate  wisdom  which  is  necessary  to  direct  it  in  attainment 
of  desirable  and  worthy  ends,  and  this  vision  admonishes  me 
that,  whenever  mortals  attempt  to  assimilate  the  power  and 
character  of  the  gods,  they  are  to  be  pitied  for  their  weakness 
rather  than  censured  for  their  arrogance. 

The  rebuke  of  the  great  war  chief  recalled  my  senses,  and  I 
blew  my  enchanted  whistle.  Instantly  one  of  the  finest  spotted 
war  horses  I  ever  beheld  appeared  before  me,  caparisoned  in  all 


A  Sioux  VISION.  139 

the  attractive  insignia  of  war.  Up  to  this  period,  the  enchanted 
chief  had  maintained  his  assumed  form.  He  now  said,  "  My 
labors  with  you  are  finished ;  I  am  going  to  dissolve  and  return 
to  my  own  happy  hunting  ground,  in  my  natural  body." 

The  animal  then  dropped  down  instantly  and  assumed  the 
shape  of  an  old  dried  snake-skin  and  skeleton  on  the  plain,  and 
the  chief  appeared  before  me  clothed  in  a  fine  war  dress,  and 
mounted  on  a  snow-white  horse.  He  then  called  out  an  army  of 
young  Sioux  warriors  to  appear  and  conduct  him  home,  and  five 
thousand  made  their  appearance,  clad  in  bright  armor  and 
mounted  on  white  horses.  They  saluted  him  with  songs  and 
ravishing  music,  and  all  started  off  in  one  grand  cavalcade. 

I  stood  motionless  and  gazed  at  them  until  they  disappeared. 
The  reverie  which  enthralled  me  at  the  sight  of  this  grand 
pageant,  caused  me  to  forget  my  own  consequence,  and  for  a  few 
moments  I  contemplated  what  to  do.  The  first  great  pleasure 
which  my  new  situation  imparted  was  derived  from  a  sense  of 
being  freed  from  danger.  That  rapturous  sensation  of  delight 
which  is  supposed  to  spring  from  the  possession  of  power  was 
slow  in  possessing  my  soul  to  the  exclusion  of  more  rational  ideas. 
The  first  sensation  of  pain  which  I  felt,  grew  out  of  a  sense  of 
utter  loneliness.  Man  is  eminently  a  social  being,  and  both  the 
rude  and  refined  elements  of  his  nature  lie  dormant  in  the  pre- 
sence of  solitude.  After  being  alone  a  short  time,  the  first 
practical  idea  which  presented  itself  to  my  mind  was  to  try  the 
speed  of  my  horse.  This  I  did,  and  found  him  as  swift  as  the 
wind.  Next,  I  tried  my  enchanted  bow  in  a  chase  after  deer  and 
elk,  and  found  it  a  weapon  which  I  could  use  with  unerring  aim 
and  perfection.  Next,  I  desired  to  try  the  merits  of  my  enchanted 
whistle,  and  meditated  for  some  time  as  to  the  character  of  the 
test  to  be  applied. 

I  remembered  two  Blackfeet  Indians  who  had  chased  me  on 
Okoboga  creek,  near  the  land  of  the  Dakotas,  and  came  near 
catching  me.  They  were  mortal  enemies,  and  I  thirsted  for 
revenge.  I  wished  for  them  to  present  themselves  before  me, 
blew  my  enchanted  whistle,  and  they  appeared  immediately. 
Their  sudden  appearance  at  first  startled  and  alarmed  me,  as 


140  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

when  I  first  saw  them  armed  and  seeking  my  life,  and  my  first 
impulse  was  to  run,  as  I  had  done  before.  They  stared  me  fully 
in  the  face,  and  appeared  to  be  wholly  unconscious  of  fear  or 
danger.  I  gazed  at  them  for  a  full  minute  before  I  again  thought 
of  my  enchanted  bow  ;  then  I  fired  two  shots,  and  each  one  fell 
dead.  I  scalped  them.  My  confidence  was  now  very  great  in 
all  that  Big  Snake  had  told  me.  The  day  was  now  spent,  the 
sun  was  sinking  behind  the  western  plains,  the  birds  in  the 
spirit  land  were  hurrying  to  their  nightly  shelter,  and  I  thought 
of  Omarinta  and  the  children.  So  ecstatic  was  the  thought  of 
seeing  them  in  a  few  moments  that  it  overpowered  me,  and  nearly 
took  my  breath  away. 

As  soon  as  I  collected  myself  a  little,  I  fathered  a  convulsive 
wish  to  be  in  their  presence,  blew  my  whistle,  and  found  myself 
standing  at  the  door  of  my  lodge.  Omarinta  seized  me  by  the 
neck  and  wept  tears  of  joy  as  she  hung  her  confiding  head  on  my 
bosom,  and  the  children  seized  me  by  the  hands  and  legs  and 
pulled  me  down  to  their  level  and  share  of  domestic  joy.  After 
the  first  spasm  of  domestic  greeting,  Omarinta  looked  embarrassed, 
as  she  began  to  excuse  herself  for  not  being  able  to  set  a  repast 
before  me.  For  four  days  she  and  the  children  had  had  nothing  to 
eat  but  bark  and  twigs.  This  imparted  a  strange  confusion  of 
sorrow  and  joy,  and  I  cried  out : 

"  Oh,  Omarinta,  I  am  now  the  strongest  medicine  man  the  Sioux 
ever  saw.  I  will  call  a  buffalo  to  the  door  in  a  moment,  and  we  will 
have  a  great  feast.  I  am  possessed  of  a  potent  charm,  which 
gives  me  control  of  the  world."  She  involuntarily  drew  back 
and  looked  at  me  with  amazement,  evidently  thinking  me  deli- 
rious or  insane. 

This  conviction  of  my  wife  for  a  moment  forestalled  the  pleas- 
ure I  had  anticipated,  and  gave  me  pain  when  it  was  least  ex- 
pected. In  the  pride  and  intoxication  of  supernatural  power,  I 
had  forgotten  the  strongest  instincts  and  prejudices  of  my  race. 
After  a  little  reflection,  I  recognized  the  folly  of  trying  to  convince 
her  by  mere  oral  declaration  of  the  wonderful  powers  of  which 
I  was  master.  All  the  powers  of  speech  of  which  I  was  possessed 
would  have  been  thrown  away  in  an  effort  to  convince  her, 


A  Sioux  VISION.  141 

without  occular  demonstration,  of  the  powers  asserted.  I  seized 
my  bow  and  whistle  and  stepped  out  on  the  banks  of  the  Wapka 
Schicha,  and  told  her  to  follow  me  in  the  light  of  the  moon.  She 
obeyed,  but  gave  me  a  look  of  incredulity,  which  told  more 
forcibly  than  words  could  express  of  the  subdued  pity  which 
reigned  in  her  bosom.  In  my  eagerness  to  remove  her  doubts 
and  vindicate  myself,  I  hurriedly  asked  her  what  species  of  game 
she  preferred,  buffalo,  deer,  elk,  antelope  or  bear.  She  hesitated 
for  a  moment,  and  seemed  unwilling  to  say,  because  she  dreaded 
the  disappointment  which  she  felt  sure  would  react  on  me.  I 
urged  her  to  speak,  and  she  said ;  "  There  is  no  game  near  here, 
but  I  prefer  elk  to  any  other  species."  I  blew  my  whistle,  and 
a  large  elk  stood  before  me.  I  drew  my  magical  bow  and  sped 
an  arrow  through  its  chest ;  it  bounded  in  the  air,  floundered  on 
the  ground,  and  died  in  a  few  moments. 

Omarinta  screamed  with  joy,  called  the  half-famished  children, 
cut  out  the  liver,  and  all  of  them  fell  to  devouring  it.  After  we 
had  dressed  the  meat  and  stowed  it  away,  the  children,  with  their 
bellies  distended,  went  to  sleep,  Omarinta  picked  up  the  half 
burned  chunks,  and  we  sat  down  on  a  robe.  I  then  related  my 
story  to  her.  Tears  came  to  her  eyes,  alternate  joy  and  amaze- 
ment asserted  their  sway ;  then  incredulity  would  drive  each  away 
from  her  beautiful  face  and  painfully  assert  its  control ;  then 
love  and  confidence  would  assume  the  mastery  of  the  contending 
passions,  but  beneath  it  all,  doubt  lingered  and  asked  for  further 
confirmation. 

I  had  been  a  man  of  some  parts,  and  was  respected  by  my 
tribe,  so  I  had  but  little  trouble  in  assembling  the  tribe  to  hear 
my  wonderful  story.  I  went  to  the  chief  and  influenced  him  to 
assemble  the  tribe,  and  a  large  concourse  attended,  not  knowing 
the  object  for  which  they  were  called  together.  All  listened 
with  profound  attention  until  the  conclusion,  an  omen  which  I 
regarded  as  highly  favorable.  But  as  soon  as  I  concluded,  Old 
Fox,  the  cunning  medicine  man  of  the  tribe,  rose,  and  gravely 
asserted  that  all  I  had  said  was  a  lie ;  that  it  was  evidently  a 
cunningly  devised  scheme  to  supersede  him,  and  become  the 
medicine  man  of  the  tribe.  When  he  took  his  seat,  twenty  of 


142  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

his  friends  rose  and  all  desired  to  speak  at  once.  After  order 
was  restored,  each  in  turn  pronounced  me  a  humbug  of  the  first 
class,  and  some  went  so  far  as  to  suggest  that  such  a  dangerous 
character  ought  to  be  disposed  of  at  once.  These  were  succeeded 
by  others  more  moderate  in  their  criticism,  but  all  concurred  in 
declaring  their  disbelief  in  all  of  my  statements.  After  all  had 
spoken  who  desired,  the  chief  rose  and  stated  that  he  concurred 
in  the  general  verdict,  but  that  he  was  opposed  to  resorting  to 
extreme  measures  in  my  case,  in  consideration  of  my  former 
good  standing  in  the  tribe ;  that  he  would  consult  with  Old  Fox, 
and  devise  a  test  which  would  be  satisfactory  to  all. 

"With  this  conclusion,  I  was  well  satisfied,  and  resolved  not  to 
make  a  too  sudden  display  of  the  extraordinary  powers  with 
which  I  was  clothed.  My  experience  with  Omarinta  had  set  me 
to  reflecting,  and  had  imparted  a  valuable  lesson.  Old  Fox  said 
that  he  would  take  me  to  Fox  mountain,  three  miles  distant,  and 
test  my  capacity  to  catch  wild  foxes  ;  that  if  I  could  catch  as 
many  foxes1  as  he  could,  he  would  agree  that  I  was  a  very  strong 
man ;  and  that  if  I  could  even  catch  one  fox,  he  would  agree 
that  no  penalty  should  be  inflicted  for  the  imposition  I  had  at- 
tempted on  the  tribe.  This  test  was  to  be  immediately  applied. 

When  we  arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  Old  Fox  went 
to  the  right  and  I  to  the  left.  We  were  to  meet  on  the  opposite 
side.  After  he  passed  out  of  sight,  I  blew  my  whistle,  and  one 
thousand  foxes,  as  large  as  buffalo  bulls,  appeared  before  Old 
Fox,  and  gnashed  their  teeth  at  him.  I  stood  still  to  await  the 
result.  He  came  running  to  me,  and  fell,  terror  stricken,  at  my 
feet.  After  he  had  collected  himself  a  little,  he  stated  that  he 
had  been  menaced  by  a  thousand  foxes,  as  large  as  buffalo  bulls, 
and  that  he  could  not  catch  one  of  them ;  that,  in  his  opinion, 
the  devil  had  turned  them  loose  to  destroy  the  Sioux. 

Presently  the  foxes  approached  us.  I  lassoed  one  and  tied  it 
to  a  tree ;  caught  another  and  mounted  its  back.  Then  I  struck 
Old  Fox  dumb  and  bade  him  follow  me  to  the  village. 


1  The  Sioux  regard  the  tongue  of  a  fox  as  an  infallible  remedy  for  any  wound  inflicted  with  an 
arrow,  or  any  puncture  of  the  flesh.  They  believe  that  it  will  draw  out  a  nail,  needle,  poisonous  or 
virus  matter  or  foreign  substance.  Old  Fox  was  master  of  this  school,  and  always  kept  a  cage  of 
foxes  in  Fox  mountain,  ready  for  any  emergency.  When  he  wanted  a  fox,  he  pretended  to  go  and 
catch  the  wild  animal,  and  had  thus  acquired  great  reputation  with  the  Sioux. 


A  Sioux  VISION.  143 

I  then  told  the  chief  what  had  transpired,  and  that  Old  Fox 
had  habitually  imposed  upon  the  tribe,  by  keeping  a  cage  of  foxes 
in  Fox  mountain.  This  did  not  convince  the  tribe  that  I  was 
the  mighty  man  I  claimed  to  be,  but  it  for  the  moment  diverted 
inquiry  and  criticism  from  myself  to  Old  Fox.  He  was  severely 
questioned,  and  condemned  by  some,  but  stood  mute.  One-half 
of  the  tribe  was  for  executing  him  on  the  spot,  but  he  had  many 
friends,  and  the  other  half  seized  their  weapons  to  defend  him. 
Civil  war  was  thus  imminent,  and  it  required  judgment  to  avert 
its  calamities. 

To  avert  this,  I  ordered  the  chief  and  all  of  his  principal  men 
to  go  to  the  mountain  and  bring  in  the  fox  I  had  tied.  When 
we  arrived  there,  I  commanded  the  fox  to  lie  down  and  the  chief 
to  mount  it.  The  order  was  obeyed  with  much  reluctance  and 
fear.  He  rode  back  .to  the  village,  and  I  ordered  the  foxes  re- 
released. 

In  this  exhibition,  I  was  mistaken  as  to  the  effect  it  would  pro- 
duce on  the  tribe.  My  powers  were  generally  conceded,  but  it 
greatly  embittered  both  the  friends  and  opponents  of  Old  Fox, 
who  again  rushed  to  arms,  and  necessitated  another  diversion  to 
prevent  civil  war.  My  experience  thus  far  in  the  exercise  of 
that  unlimited  power  with  which  I  was  so  unexpectedly  invested, 
convinced  me  that  unrestrained  power  ought  never  to  be  separated 
from  consummate  wisdom  and  that  goodness  of  heart  which  is 
the  attribute  of  the  gods. 

At  this  juncture,  I  blew  my  whistle,  and  instantly  five  hundred 
Pawnee  and  Blackfeet  warriors  appeared  and  offered  battle. 
They  dashed  through  the  village,  and  captured  large  booty,  em- 
bracing the  greater  portion  of  the  horses  belonging  to  the  tribe. 
This  healed  all  dissension  in  the  tribe.  After  the  enemy  had 
departed  with  their  booty,  I  commanded  them  to  halt,  and  sum- 
moned an  army  of  Sioux  warriors  from  the  spirit  land,  and  put 
the  enemy  to  death.  The  tribe  did  not  participate  in  this 
slaughter.  Many  looked  on  as  awe  stricken  spectators  ;  others 
fled  in  dismay,  and  took  shelter  in  the  mountains. 

I  dismissed  my  warriors  to  the  spirit  land,  collected  the  scat- 
tered Sioux,  and  was  hailed  as  their  mighty  chief.  They  made 
a  litter,  and  carried  me  in  triumphal  march  through  the  village. 


144  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

All  the  maidens  of  the  tribe  assembled,  anointed  me  with  sweet 
incense  and  sung  songs  of  praise  to  the  mighty  warrior  of  the 
Sioux.  Under  my  leadership,  the  Sioux  conquered  all  the  sur- 
rounding nations,  and  became  the  rulers  of  the  earth ;  but  my 
knowledge  was  not  commensurate  with  my  power,  and  I  often 
experienced  the  most  perplexing  difficulties.  I  often  planned 
the  accomplishment  of  great  ends,  which  could  not  be  attained 
without  great  injustice  to  my  fellow  mortals.  These  difficulties 
ever  attended  me  in  the  execution  of  the  minor  as  well  as  that 
of  the  most  important  affairs  of  my  government.  In  my  elevation 
to  power,  my  conscience  suffered  many  rude  blasts,  and  as  de- 
clining years  advanced,  it  continually  admonished  me  that  my 
glory  rested  on  the  broken  columns  which  attested  the  ruin  of 
multitudes  of  my  fellow  mortals.  In  the  evening  of  a  long  life, 
my  conscience  developed  a  sound  growth  and  photographed  on 
the  walls  of  my  soul  all  the  follies,  errors  and  crimes  of  my  life. 
Then,  could  I  have  done  it,  I  would  have  gladly  exchanged  all 
the  pomp  and  splendor  which  power  had  conferred,  for  the 
simple,  unheralded  virtues  of  my  humblest  subject. 


JOSEPH  BE  ANT,   THA  YENDANEGEA,  AND  HIS  POS- 
TERITY.^ 

BY  WM,  C.  BRYANT. 


BRANT  HOUSE. 

More  than  a  generation  has  passed  away  since  Col.  Stone's 
elaborate  biography  of  the  great  Mohawk  chieftain  was  issued 
from  the  press.  The  book,  once  a  thumbed  and  dog-eared 
favorite  in  every  district  school  and  circulating  library,  was 
eagerly  devoured  by  a  class  of  young  readers  whose  imaginations 
revelled  in  its  romantic  and  thrilling  pictures  of  border  warfare 
and  forest  life,  and  whose  sympathies  were  irresistibly  drawn 
out  toward  the  central  figure  in  that  picturesque  group  of  actors. 

That  Brant  and  his  Mohawks  cast  their  fortunes  with  the 
British  in  the  war  for  independence,  did  not  materially  lessen 
the  admiration  of  that  ardent  and  generous  class  of  readers.  It 


1  Reprinted  from  The  American  Historical  Eecord  (Philadelphia),  for  July,  1873. 
mentary  note  written  by  the  author  for  the  Indian  Miscellany. 
11 


With  a  supple- 


146  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

was  the  crowning  act  of  that  grand  fidelity  to  the  flag  of  our 
British  ancestors  which  this  loyal  race  had  illustrated  in  the  long 
and  doubtful  contest  with  the  French,  which  they  were  ready  to 
seal  with  their  blood  and  which  involved  the  sorrows  of  expa- 
triation, the  sacrifice  of  home  and  country. 

In  Col.  Stone's  volumes,  Brant  is  depicted  as  a  brave  and  con- 
summate warrior,  a  statesman  of  rare  forecast  and  sagacity,  an 
adroit  diplomat  and  accomplished  courtier,  a  magnanimous  foe, 
a  faithful  and  chivalrous  friend.  Since  then,  the  iconoclastic 
tendencies  of  the  age  have  conspired  to  cast  down  Col.  Stone's 
hero  from  the  high  pedestal  on  which  that  enthusiastic  writer 
had  placed  him.  His  success  and  consequence  are  held  by  some 
writers  to  have  been  purely  adventitious  and  largely  overestimated. 
In  fact,  Brant,  divested  of  the  glamour  which  Col.  Stone  had 
thrown  around  him,  has  been  described  as  a  prosaic  and  alto- 
gether commonplace  personage,  not  superior  to,  if  indeed  he 
were  not  surpassed  in  native  scope  and  vigor  of  intellect,  and 
all  heroic  qualities,  by  many  less  prominent  cotemporaries  of 
his  race. 

Allowing  all  reasonable  deductions  for  Col.  Stone's  enthusiasm 
and  partiality,  there  is  abundant  evidence  in  his  pages  to  show 
that  Brant  was  a  great  man  —  in  many  respects  the  most  extra- 
ordinary his  race  has  produced,  since  the  advent  of  the  white 
man  on  this  continent.  There  is  no  contesting  the  facts  that  his 
influence  over  his  own  people  was  controlling ;  that  he  was  no 
mean  strategist  and  won  the  praise  of  trained  tacticians  for  the 
manner  in  which  some  of  his  military  enterprises  were  conducted ; 
and  that  he  was  the  pet  of  the  British  government  which  spared 
no  pains  to  conciliate  and  retain  him  in  its  interests.  His 
humanity  toward  a  captive  or  fallen  foe  is  too  well  established 
to  admit  of  controversy. 

Brant  was  never,  in  any  sense,  the  willing  tool  of  the  British 
government.  He  possessed  the  barbarian  jealousy  without  its 
capriciousness.  His  letters  reveal  a  proud  and  sensitive  spirit, 
jealous  of  its  dignity  and  which  could  not  brook  the  slightest 
imputation  of  dishonor;  an  irritable  though  generous  temper 
that  involved  his  correspondents  in  endless  explanations,  and 


JOSEPH  BRANT,  THAYENDANEGEA,  AND  HIS  POSTERITY.  147 

which  it  was  their  constant  effort  to  soothe  and  allay.  The  ex- 
tent and  amplitude  of  his  mental  vision  were  as  remarkable  as 
were  his  courage,  energy  of  character  and  resolute  will.  Nothing 
eluded  his  observation,  whether  it  transpired  in  the  cabinets  of 
ministers  or  in  the  forest-senates  of  the  far  south  and  west.  He 
would  not  yield  to  the  persuasions  of  Lord  Dorchester,  and  other 
agents  of  the  British  crown  in  1787,  and  precipitate  a  general 
Indian  war  against  the  infant  republic  because  he  clearly  saw 
what  escaped  their  sagacity,  that  such  a  war  would  sweep  away 
in  a  torrent  of  patriotic  fervor  the  murmurs  of  popular  discontent 
which  so  elated  the  British,  and  would  end  in  irretrievable  dis- 
aster to  the  red  man  and  further  humiliation  to  the  British  arms. 
Captain  Brant  was  born  to  no  titles  or  dignities.  He  was  created 
a  chief  by  the  popular  voice,  and  his  influence  far  outweighed 
that  of  the  higher  class  of  rulers,  the  hereditary  sachems.1  This 
influence  was  not,  as  has  been  suggested  by  some  writers,  the 
result  of  his  English  education  —  his  superior  fitness  for  being 
the  organ  or  medium  of  communication  between  a  cultivated 
nation  and  its  barbarous  allies.  He  was  an  illiterate  man.  There 
were  other  Indians,  attached  to  the  British  interests,  who  enjoyed 
superior  opportunities  for  becoming  acquainted  with  the  English 
language  and  the  learning  taught  in  English  schools.  The  fol- 
lowing letter,  printed  for  the  first  time,  reveals  his  imperfect 
acquaintance  with  the  idiom  and  grammar  of  our  language  —  a 
few  years  later,  when  he  had  abandoned  the  war  path  and  devoted 
himself  to  promoting  the  moral  and  material  interests  of  his 
people,  the  work  of  self-education  commenced  and  in  its  rapid 
progress  developed  an  astonishing  capacity  for  mental  acquisition 

and  development. 

Cataraqui,  Jan.  13,  1785. 
Sir: 

Mindfull  my  promise  to  you  I  now  take  the  opportunity  to  inquire 
after  your  health  which  I  hope  this  letter  will  find  you  in  good  state  of 
health  and  hope  you  will  be  able  to  answer  me  this,  without  any  delay 


1  The  sachemships  of  the  Iroquois  descend  through  the  female  line.  John  Brant  inherited  the 
office  of  tekarihogea  from  his  mother.  He  himself  could  not  have  transmitted  the  title  to  a  son. 
The  family  tomb  at  Brantford  publishes  the  error  that  John  Brant  "  succeeded  his  father  as  tekari- 
hogea." The  monument  was  built  and  the  inscription  written  by  white  men  not  versed  in  the  In- 
dian laws  and  customs. 


148  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

and  be  agreeable  your  promise  to  me  likewise.  I  have  nothing  any 
particular  to  inform  alone  you  concerning  the  public  affairs  because  I 
live  here.  I  been  away  from  the  five  nations  very  near  three  months. 
Shortly  after  I  parted  with  you  at  F.  I  was  as  far  as  Quebec  my  way  to 
England  but  hearing  there  that  Capt.  Aaron  Hill  a  Mohoc  chief  was 
detained  and  kept  as  hostage  by  the  commissioners  of  Congress  which 
alarmed  me  made  me  turn  back  from  there  to  this  place  and  shall  winter 
myself  here. 

I  have  wrote  letters  to  his  Excellency  governor  Clinton  &  to  my  friend 
Major  Peter  Schuyler  the  time  I  left  at  Niagara,  but  I  had  no  answer, 
neither  of  them  since.  So  in  short  I  am  at  present  in  the  dark  as  to 
many  points  of  business.  Even  I  had  no  true  account  the  manner  Capt 
Hill  is  kept  &  where  he  is  I  dont  know.  The  conclusion  of  that  council 
at  Fort  Stanwix  by  the  Commissioners  I  have  had  no  account  at  all. 
Therefore  I  hope  you  will  please  explain  me  some  of  the  heads  of  that 
council.  I  hope  those  commissioners  did  not  oversett  all  what  you  & 
me  have  settled  there.  I  intend  to  be  at  Montreal  the  10th  of  February. 
I  think  it  would  not  be  of  miss  if  one  of  you  should  be  there  the  same 
time  to  talk  over  of  those  agreements  made  at  our  meeting  at  Fort 
Stanwix.  If  it  should  be  so,  I  think  it  would  be  for  the  interest  of 
both  parties,  that  is  if  our  minds  are  not  changed  allready  of  what  we 
agreed  there.  I  wish  Major  Peter  Schuyler  should  be  the  person  that 
would  meet  me  at  Montreal.  Sir  I  remain  your  most 

Humbl  servant 

To  Matthew  Visscher,  Esq.  Jos>  BEANT- 

This  lettef,  brief  and  clumsily  phrased  as  it  is,  reveals  the 
secret  of  Brant's  greatness  —  his  enterprising  and  dauntless 
spirit,  Ms  calm  self-reliance  and  steadiness  of  purpose,  his  anxiety 
to  thoroughly  interpret  and  fathom  every  event  and  measure 
affecting  Ms  people,  or  the  honor  of  the  flag  that  sheltered  them, 
and  that  rare  fidelity  wMch  led  Mm  to  abandon  a  voyage  to 
Europe  when  on  a  point  of  embarkation,  and  after  a  journey 
weary  and  formidable  in  those  days,  and  all  because  an  obscure 
chief  was  detained  as  a  hostage  for  causes  or  upon  a  pretext  with 
which  Brant  had  not  been  made  acquainted.1 


1  Captain  Brant  was  a  staunch  churchman  and  it  was  mainly  through  his  exertions  that  his  people, 
on  being  transplanted  to  Canada,  were  provided  with  a  house  of  worship.  For  years  afterward  he 
labored  unsuccessfully  to  secure  the  services  of  a  resident  missionary.  In  this  long  interval  of 


JOSEPH  BRANT,  THAYENDANEGEA,  AND  HIS  POSTERITY.  149 

Republics,  if  not  ungrateful,  seldom  take  much  interest  in  the 
posterity  of  their  heroes,  but  I  have  thought  that  the  boys  of  the 
last  generation,  whose  massy  locks  have  grown  scant  and  silvery 
since  they  followed  the  fortunes  of  Thayendanegea  through  Col. 
Stone's  bulky  volumes,  might  care  to  learn  a  few  particulars 
concerning  the  latter  and  less  eventful  history  of  the  family. 

The  gallant  and  lamented  Col.  John  Brant,  Ahyouwaeghs,1 
eon  of  Capt.  Brant,  as  all  of  Stone's  readers  are  aware,  fell  a 
victim  to  the  Asiatic  cholera  in  1832.  He  left  a  will  devising 
all  his  property  to  his  sister  Elizabeth  who  became  the  sole  pro- 
prietress of  an  estate  of  baronial  proportions.  Although  she  ad- 
hered in  part  to  the  costume  of  her  poeple,  her  beauty,  intelligence, 
her  queenly  grace  and  refinement  of  manners,  as  well  as  the 
heroic  blood  that  tinged  her  cheeks,  caused  her  society  to  be 
courted  by  the  most  fashionable  and  aristocratic. 

Some  years  after  her  brother's  death  Miss  Brant  married  her 
cousin,  William  Johnson  Kerr,  of  Niagara,  and  who  could  boast 
that  the  blood  of  a  long  line  of  forest  kings  which  coursed  in  his 
veins  was  mingled  with  that  of  the  most  ancient  of  the  Scottish 
nobility.  His  father,  a  first  cousin  of  the  Duke  of  Roxljoro,  was 
a  surgeon  in  the  British  army,  and  soon  after  the  revolutionary 
war,  married  a  daughter  of  Sir  William  Johnson  and  the  famous 
Mollie  Brant.  Mr.  Kerr  was  one  of  three  brothers,  the  fruit  of 
this  marriage. 

This  gentleman  died  at  the  old  Brant  mansion,  at  Wellington 


neglect  and  spiritual  destitution  the  church  service  was  read  in  the  Mohawk  tongue  every  sabbath 
morning  to  a  large  and  devout  congregation.  Captain  Aaron  Hill,  aforementioned,  was  the  reader. 
In  honor  of  the  day  he  was  wont  to  put  an  extra  touch  of  vermillion  on  his  cheeks,  and  discharged 
his  sacred  office  with  a  dignity  and  an  aspect  of  sanctity  highly  edifying.  After  the  service  the 
youth  of  the  nation  would  assemble  on  the  neighboring  common  and  engage  in  the  Indian  game  of 
ball,  to  which  Captain  Aaron  would  lend  the  encouragement  of  his  presence.  He  is  remembered 
as  a  very  grave  and  worthy  man. 

When  Elizabeth  Brant's  youngest  daughter,  who  afterwards  became  Mrs.  Kerr,  was  thirteen  years 
old  she  chanced  to  wander  far  into  the  forest  in  pursuit  of  blackberries.  While  engaged  in  pluck- 
ing this  fruit  a  large  and  venomous  snake,  vulgarly  known  as  the  mississanga,  fastened  his  fangs 
upon  her  flnger.  Child  as  she  was,  after  shaking  the  reptile  off,  she  had  the  presence  of  mind  to  apply 
a  ligature  to  the  member  and  then  hurried  home  for  succor.  Capt.  Aaron  Hill  happened  to  be  the 
only  male  person  at  her  father's  house  and  seeing  her  peril  he  applied  his  lips  to  the  wound  to 
extract  the  virus  by  suction,  following  this  remedy  with  a  lotion  of  herbs  which  in  a  few  hours 
completed  the  cure. 

1  Pronounced  Ah-u-wace.  The  engraved  portraits  of  the  chief,  and  the  painting  in  the  state  library 
at  Albany,  are  unlike  the  original  picture  at  Brant  honse,  and  do  him  greai  injustice. 


150  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

square,  C.  W.,  in  1842.     His  devoted  wife,  Elizabeth  Brant  Kerr, 
survived  the  loss  of  her  husband  but  a  few  hours. 

About  half  a  mile  west  of  the  old  historic  mansion,  known  as 
the  Brant  house,  stands  a  beautiful  little  chapel  connected  with 
the  church  of  England,  and  which  is  a  fitting  monument  to  the 
piety  and  Christian  zeal  of  the  daughter  of  Thayendanegea.  It  is 
approached  from  the  street  through  a  long  avenue  lined  with 
stately  forest  trees  of  her  own  planting.  At  the  end  of  this 
avenue,  and  under  the  shadow  of  this  chapel  which  they  reared, 
and  in  which  they  long  worshiped,  are  the  graves  of  Colonel 
and  Elizabeth  Kerr.  Captain  Brant  and  his  son  sleep  in  the 
burying  ground  attached  to  the  old  Mohawk  church  near  Brant- 
ford.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kerr  left  four  little  children,  "Walter  Butler, 
Joseph  Brant,  Catharine  Elizabeth  and  John  William  Simcoe. 
The  eldest,  Walter,  inherited  the  principal  chieftainship  of  the 
Six  Nations.  Of  him  Col.  Stone  wrote,  "  The  infant  chief  is  a 
fine  looking  lad,  three-quarters  Mohawk,  with  an  eye  piercing 
as  the  eagle's."  These  children  were  carefully  nurtured  and 
educated  by  their  testamentary  guardians.  Of  the  four,  however, 
only  the  younger  two  survive.  Walter  and  Joseph  were  both 
cut  off  in  early  manhood ;  the  former  died  in  July,  1860,  the 
latter  in  February,  1870.  Walter  was  a  rarely  gifted  young 
man,  and  his  untimely  death  blasted  many  fond  hopes  and  sent 
a  pang  to  many  sympathizing  hearts.  Joseph,  without  the 
brilliancy  of  his  eldest  brother,  possessed  sterling  traits,  and  his 
amiability  and  gentle  mannersjwon  the  affections  of  all  who  knew 
him. 

After  the  death  of  Walter  Butler  Kerr,  his  aunt,  Catharine 
Brant  Johns,  who  was  of  the  blood  royal  of  the  Mohawks,  and 
who  according  to  their  customs,  had  the  right  of  conferring  the 
title  of  tekarihogea,  or  principal  sachem,  nominated  her  son 
William  Johns  to  fill  the  vacant  office.  The  writer  remembers 
this  chief  well.  He  was  a  tall,  handsome  young  man  with  gentle 
manners  and  a  voice  and  smile  of  winning  sweetness.  Unfortu- 
nately he  became  dissipated  and  met  his  death  in  a  tragical 
manner  about  fifteen  years  ago.  The  office  of  tekarihogea  thus 
made  vacant  was  again  filled  by  the  nomination  of  the  daughter 


JOSEPH  BRANT,  THAYENDANEGEA,  AND  HIS  POSTERITY.  151 

of  Brant.  Her  nephew  Isaac  Lewis,  son  of  her  sister  Mary,  was 
the  fortunate  candidate.  Lewis  was  a  sober,  exemplary  man, 
but  in  nowise  remarkable.  He  died  suddenly  in  1863.  The 
venerable  daughter  of  Brant  was  again  called  upon  to  exercise 
her  prerogative  and  her  choice  fell  upon  her  nephew,  W.  J. 
Simcoe  Kerr,  the  son  of  Col.  and  Mrs.  Kerr,  and  who  is  probably 
the  last  tekarihogea  of  the  Iroquois.  The  expanding  intelligence 
of  his  people,  and  the  infectious  example  of  the  Senecas  of  New 
York,  threaten  the  overthrow  of  their  ancient  form  of  govern- 
ment and  the  adoption  of  another  more  compatible  with  progress. 

Catharine  E.,  the  sister  of 
the  chief  and  a  most  lovely 
and  accomplished  woman, 
is  a  teacher  among  the 
Mohawks  and  has  conse- 
crated her  life  to  the  mental 
and  moral  elevation  of  her 
people. 

About  seven  hundred  of 
the  Mohawks  reside  on  the 
Grand  river  near  Brantford, 
and  the  residue,  about  three 
hundred,  live  on  the  bay  of 
Quinte.  They  have  made 
considerable  advancement  in 
husbandry  and  the  mechanic 
arts,  and  are  believed  to  be 
slowly  increasing  in  num- 
bers. They  have  always  been 
noted  for  their  indomitable 
pride,  pluming  themselves 
upon  the  fact  of  their  being 
the  head  of  the  famous  league  of  the  Iroquois  or  Six  Nations  and 
accustomed  to  look  down  with  something  like  scorn  upon 
other  tribes.  This  pride  has  stood  in  the  way  of  their  progress. 
The  more  tractable  Chippewas  of  Canada,  willing  to  turn  their 


W.  J.  SIMCOE  KERR.' 


Hereditary  chief  of  the  Wolf  tribe  of  the  Mohawks. 


152  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

backs  upon  the  past,  bid  fair  to  outstrip  their  ancient  enemies, 
the  Iroquois,  in  the  race  of  civilization. 

"  They  were  always  a  haughty  people,"  remarked  an  educated 
Chippewa  to  the  writer  not  long  since,  "  but,"  he  added  with  a 
slight  tone  of  exultation,  "  their  day  is  almost  gone." 

While  most  of  the  Mohawks  are  of  mixed  blood  they  are  more 
unalterably  Indian  in  their  feelings  than  any  other  tribe  whom 
I  have  met.  It  is  their  boast  that  there  has  never  been  an  in- 
stance of  marriage  or  cohabitation  between  individuals  of  Mohawk 
and  African  descent,  while  the  Tuscaroras  and  Senecas  furnish 
many  such  examples.  A  few  years  ago  a  Mohawk  lad,  on  his 
way  to  matriculate  at  Kenyon  college,  called  on  the  writer.  He 
was  a  remarkably  handsome  youth  with  a  refined  Indian  cast  of 
features  ;  clustering  hair ;  full,  lustrous  eyes  ;  skin  of  the  color 
of  gold  alloyed  with  copper  but  melting  into  carmine  on  the 
cheeks ;  dazzling  white  and  regular  teeth,  and  limbs  rounded 
and  symmetrical  as  an  antique  statue,  obviously  the  choice  fruit 
of  grafting  a  scion  of  our  race  upon  native  stock.  I  asked  him 
if  he  was  not  of  mixed  Caucasian  and  Indian  parentage.  He 
replied,  with  some  confusion,  that  his  people  were  of  fairer  com- 
plexion than  other  tribes,  adding  proudly  that  the  Mohawk 
blood  in  his  veins  was  unmingled  with  that  of  any  other  race. 
"  But,"  persisted  the  writer',  "  Burning,  one  of  your  chiefs  whom 
I  have  met,  is  of  a  deep  copper  color,  the  traditional  hue  of  an 
Indian."  "  True,"  he  rejoined,  with  a  curl  of  his  handsome  lips, 
"  but  Burning  is  half  Oneida."  "  Did  not  the  Oneidas,  Mohawks 
and  the  other  members  of  the  Six  Nations  spring  from  one  com- 
mon stock?"  "Yes,"  he  answered  quickly,  "  and  so  did  the 
blond  Germans  and  swarthy  Hindoos  whom  you  class  together 
as  Caucasians.  Besides,  the  Mohawks  have  been  Christianized 
for  over  a  hundred  years.  The  smoke  of  the  pagan  wigwams 
deepens  the  color  on  an  Indian's  cheek."  This  lad  had  the  blood 
of  Sir  "Wm.  Johnson  in  his  veins,  but  had  it  been  the  blood  of 
the  proudest  duke  in  the  British  realm,  it  would  have  afforded 
him  no  consolation.  At  the  instance  of  the  Prince  of  "Wales  this 
young  man  was  afterwards  taken  to  England  to  complete  his 
studies  at  Oxford. 


JOSEPH  BRANT,  THATENDANEGEA,  AND  HIS  POSTERITY.  153 

The  present  chief,  "W.  J.  Simcoe  Kerr,  has  received  a  liberal 
education,  and  his  manners,  naturally  engaging,  have  been 
softened  and  refined  by  European  travel  and  intercourse  with 
the  best  society.  In  person  he  is  tall,  upwards  of  six  feet  in 
stature,  straight  as  an  arrow,  with  a  piercing  black  eye,  raven 
locks  and  olive  complexion.  He  married,  a  few  years  ago,  a 
daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  Hunter  of  Hamilton,  Canada,  who  was 
one  of  the  executors  of  Mrs.  Kerr's  will  and  testamentary  guardian 
of  one  of  her  children,  Catharine  Elizabeth ;  the  other  executors 
being  Mr.  Beasly,  her  legal  adviser,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  McMurray. 
The  young  chief  resides  at  Brant  house,  the  old  ancestral  mansion, 
where  he  dispenses  the  same  elegant  hospitality  for  which  it  has 
long  been  noted.1  This  venerable  structure  presents  nearly  the 
same  appearance  it  did  eighty  years  ago  when  Captain  Brant,  with 
a  retinue  of  thirty  negro  servants,  and  surrounded  by  gay  soldiers, 
cavaliers  in  powdered  wigs  and  scarlet  coats,  and  all  the  motley 
assemblage  of  that  picturesque  era,  held  his  barbaric  court  within 
its  walls. 

To  visit  this  quaint  old  mansion  and  find  it  untenanted  for  the 
moment^as  chanced  to  the  writer  one  sunny  day  last  June,  is 
like  stepping  backward  from  the  nineteenth  century  into  the 
last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth.  You  enter  a  spacious  hall  and 
turning  to  the  right  find  yourself  in  a  large,  old  fashioned  draw- 
ing room  whose  front  windows  look  out  upon  the  blue  expanse 
of  Burlington  bay.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  room  is  a  grate 
surmounted  by  an  absurdly  tall  mantel  and  flanked  on  each  side 
by  a  curious,  arched  recess.  Life-size  oil  portraits  of  Brant  in 
his  paint  and  war  dress,  of  John  Brant  the  ideal  of  an  Indian 
hero ;  of  Sir  William  Johnson  and  members  of  his  family,  in 
stiff  wigs,  and  scarlet  coats  richly  laced,  stare  down  upon  you 

1  The  writer  eaw  this  chief  sitting  in  council  last  autumn  with  the  grandsons  of  Red  Jacket, 
Cornplanter,  Gov.  Blackgnake,  Mary  Jemison  and  other  personages  associated  with  the  revolutionary 
epoch.  Mr.  Kerr  was  attired  in  the  full  war  dress  of  his  people  and  looked  every  inch  a  chief. 
This  was  the  first  time  that  a  Mohawk  chief  had  met  the  Senecas  in  council  since  the  days  of  Brant. 
On  his  late  visit  to  Canada,  Prince  Alfred  spent  a  day  among  the  Mohawks  of  Grand  river  and  wan 
complimented  by  being  chosen  to  a  chieftainship  second  in  rank  to  that  of  Mr.  Kerr.  The  ceremo- 
nies were  impressive  and  were  followed  by  merrymakings  and  joyous  festivities.  In  the  event  of 
war  his  royal  highness  will  be  the  lieutenant  of  tekarihogea,  and  in  council  he  pledged  the  honor 
of  a  prince  that  he  would  be'.found  at  the  side  of  that  chief  when  the  summons  came. 


154  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

from  the  walls.  Upon  the  mantel  lies  Brant's  dagger  which 
drank  the  blood  of  his  ruffianly  son  Isaac ;  carelessly  disposed 
upon  a  table  are  a  pair  of  richly  ornamented  duelling  pistols, 
the  gift  of  the  Duke  of  Northumberland;  there  lies  his  tomahawk ; 
yonder  hangs  the  queer  conch-shell  medal  which  he  wore,  and  in 
the  corner  is  flung  his  small  sword,  its  ivory  handle  studded  with 
gems,  a  testimonial  from  his  sacred  majesty,  George  the  Third, 
to  his  gallant  and  faithful  ally. 

So  carelessly  are  these  and  other  relics  strewn  about  the  room 
an  to  lend  encouragement  to  the  fancy  that  the  old  chief  had 
hurriedly  thrown  them  down  expecting  momentarily  to  return 
and  reclaim  them.  A  dreamy  atmosphere  pervades  the  apart- 
ment disposing  the  mind  to  revery  and  rendering  it  hospitable 
to  visions  of  the  past.  The  writer,  on  the  occasion  mentioned, 
instinctively  cast  a  look  toward  the  door,  expecting  to  hear  the 
tread  of  moccasined  feet,  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  those  swarthy 
features  and  be  transfixed  by  a  glance  of  the  basilisk  eyes  which 
are  reproduced  in  the  portrait  over  the  mantel.  But  the  spell 
was  broken  by  the  hum  of  approaching  voices,  and  a  peal  of 
childish  laughter,  proceeding  from  three  bright  little  elves,  de- 
scendants in  the  fourth  generation  from  Joseph  Brant.1 

I  can  readily  credit  the  rumor,  reported  to  me  in  good  faith 
by  a  neighboring  farmer,  that  Brant  house  is  haunted. 

Before  his  departure  from  home  on  the  eve  of  the  battle  of 
Stony  creek,  fought  near  Hamilton  during  the  last  war  with 
England,  the  young  chief,  John  Brant,  warned  his  aged  mother 
that  the  Brant  house  would  be  likely  to  receive  a  hostile  visit 
from  the  invaders  and  promised  to  send  a  runner  in  time  to  in- 
sure the  escape  of  its  inmates.  The  warning  came  and  the  family 
and  the  servants  sought  the  shelter  of  the  neighboring  woods. 
Returning  the  next  day  they  found  the  house  in  great  disorder 


1  Among  the  oil  portraits  at  Brant  house  is  one  of  Peter  Johnson  of  whom  Gov .  Tryon ,  in  a  letter 
addressed  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth,  under  date  of  Feb.  8,  1776,  wrote  as  follows :  "  The  Indians 
have  chosen  Peter  Johnson,  the  natural  son  of  Sir  William  Johnson  (hy  an  Indian  woman),  to  he 
their  chief.  He  is  intrepid  and  active  and  took  with  his  own  hand  Ethan  Allen  in  a  harn,  after  his 
detachment  was  routed  before  Montreal.  The  Indian  department  demands  all  possible  attention, 
and  a  commission  of  general  to  Peter  would  be  politic."  The  portrait  is  of  a  handsome  young  man 
•with  no  preceptible  trace  of  Indian  blood.  He  fell  by  the  hand  of  a  rival  suitor  for  a  young  lady's 
affections  in  a  duel  fought  soon  after  the  close  of  the  revolutionary  war.  Peter's  mother  was  the 
celebrated  Mollie  Brant. 


JOSEPH  BRANT,  THAYENDANEGEA,  AND  HIS  POSTERITY.  155 


but  no  irreparable  damage  done  to  the  buildings.  The  Ameri- 
cans had  evidently  taken  alarm  and  retired  before  their  work  of 
destruction  was  complete.  Of  the  booty  carried  away  with  them 
the  loss  of  nothing  was  so  much  deplored  as  a  small  pipe  toma- 
hawk, inlaid  with  silver,  which  the  enemy  had  found  under  the 
pillow  of  Mrs.  Brant's  bed,  where,  in  the  hurry  of  her  departure, 
she  had  left  it.  It  was  the  gift  of  her  husband  and  she  had  a 
fancy  for  sleeping  with  it  under  her  pillow. 

This  remarkable  woman  survived  her  husband  just  thirty 
years.  A  short  time  before  his  death  she  had  the  misfortune  to 
drop  from  her  finger,  when  strolling  about  the  grounds,  a  gold 
ring,  the  wedding  gift  of  her  husband.  Earnest  and  repeated 
search  failed  to  find  it.  Twenty-six  years  afterwards  a  plowman 
turned  up  the  jewel  with  his  furrow  and  restored  it  to  the  de- 
lighted owner.  I  lately  saw  it  on  the  finger  of  the  grand-daughter 
of  Brant  from  whom  I  learned  this  incident.  The  ring  bears  the 
inscription  in  deeply  traced  characters,  "  Thayendanegea  to  Catha- 
rine." Catharine  Johns,  the 
last  survivor  of  Brant's 
children,  died  after  a  brief 
illness  at  Brant  house  in 
January,  1867,  aged  sixty- 
seven  years.  Mrs.  Johns 
was  a  very  intelligent  and 
interesting  woman.  In  her 
youth  she  was  noted  for  her 
great  personal  beauty. 
When  the  writer  last  saw 
her,  in  her  old  age,  her  car- 
riage was  still  erect,  her 
person  tall  and  command- 
ing and  her  aspect  one  of 
mingled  dignity  and  bene- 
JOSEPH  BRANT,  AGE  43. '  volence.  She  told  me  she 


»  This  is  from  the  miniature  mentioned  in  the  text,  exquisitely  painted  on  ivory,  from  life,  whilst 
Brant  was  in  London  in  1785-'86.  It  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Brant  family,  and  has  ever  been 
considered  the  best  likeness  of  him,  ever  painted.  While  he  was  in  England,  Brant  sat  for  his  por- 
trait for  Lord  Percy  (afterwards  the  Duke  of  Northumberland)  as  he  had  done  for  the  Earl  of  War- 
wick*and  Dr.  Johnson's  friend  Boswell,  when  he  was  there  ten  years  before.—  Lossing. 


156  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

could  readily  recall  her  father's  tones  and  features  —  remembered 
sitting  on  his  knee  and  receiving  his  caresses.  She  wore  a  gold 
locket  containing  an  exquisite  miniature  likeness  of  her  father 
painted  in  London.  This,  she  said,  was  the  most  faithful  like- 
ness of  Capt.  Brant  extant. 

Mrs.  Johns  adhered  to  the  dress  and  many  of  the  customs  of 
her  people.  Her  feelings  were  warmly  enlisted  in  their  welfare, 
and  the  only  shadow  that  dimmed  her  cheerfulness  in  her  last 
hours  was  regret  that  she  must  die  away  from  the  people  she 
loved  so  well.  Her  last  request  was  that  she  should  be  buried 
near  the  old  mission  church  on  the  Grand  river.  It  is  needless 
to  say  this  wish  was  piously  fulfilled. 

Father  and  daughter,  surrounded  by  kindred  dust,  sleep  on 
the  banks  of  the  river  where  the  remnant  of  their  people  linger, 
and  where  the  echoes  still  repeat  the  music  of  the  Mohawk  tongue, 
so  soon  to  be  numbered  with  those  lost,  mysterious  languages  in 
which  Pocahontas  pleaded  for  the  English  adventurer's  life  and 
King  Philip  roused  his  warriors  to  battle. 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  2,  1876. 

Since  the  foregoing  article  was  written  the  two  grand  children  of 
Thayendanegea  have  passed  from  earth.  Wm.  John  Simcoe  Kerr  died 
suddenly  of  heart  disease  on  the  17th  day  of  February,  1875.  The 
brother  and  sister  were  tenderly  attached  to  each  other.  They  were 
still  young,  the  only  survivors  of  a  large  and  interesting  family,  and 
were  frequently  spoken  of  as  "  The  last  of  the  Brants "  by  their 
acquaintances. 

Under  date  of  March  15,  1875,  the  sister  wrote  :  "  My  dear  brother's 
death  was  indeed  a  very  great  shock  to  me.  It  was  not  wholly  un- 
expected, owing  to  his  precarious  state  of  health  during  the  past  year. 
I  tried  to  prepare  myself  for  the  announcement  but  only  one  placed  in 
a  like  position  can  comprehend  the  utter  misery  of  such  tidings.  Yes, 
my  friend,  I  feel  very  much  alone  now,  were  it  not  for  the  loving 
sympathy  of  friends  I  would  be  more  wretched  still." 

The  sister  died  on  the  25th  day  of  February,  1876,  on  the  Mohawk 
reservation,  Grand  river,  Canada.  I  violate  no  confidence  in  publishing 
the  following  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  one  who  long  sought  to 
sustain  the  relation  of  mother  to  these  orphaned  children:  "The  first 


JOSEPH  BRANT,  THAYENDANEGEA,  AND  HIS  POSTERITY.  157 

intimation  I  had  of  my  poor  Kate's  illness  was  a  telegram  such  as  you 
received.  We  started  at  once  for  Onondaga  —  all  was  over.  On 
Sunday  she  had  attended  church  and  returned  on  the  ice  with  several 
friends  who  remarked  that  they  had  never  seen  her  look  more  blooming 
and  lovely  or  in  better  spirits.  On  the  following  day  she  felt  that  she 
had  taken  cold,  but  did  not  think  much  of  it  until  Tuesday  when  she 
had  a  chill  and  fever.  Inflammation  of  the  lungs  followed.  The 
doctor  felt  no  alarm  until  Thursday  following.  On  Friday  morning 
he  thought  her  better,  when  a  sudden  change  came.  She  had,  she  said, 
'  no  fear  of  death,  trusting  only  in  her  Saviour.'  She  was  quite 
conscious  to  the  last,  and  made  all  arrangements,  requesting  to  be  laid 
beside  her  aunt,  Mrs.  Johns,  near  the  old  Mohawk  church.  So  ended 
this  most  precious  and  beautiful  life. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.^ 
BY  LEWIS  H.  MORGAN. 

In  this  article  I  intend  to  present  such  evidence  bearing  upon 
the  migrations  of  the  North  American  Indians  as  may  be  drawn 
from  a  consideration  of  physical  conditions,  especially  the  influ- 
ence of  abundant  means  of  subsistence  ;  and  such  other  evidence 
upon  the  same  subject  as  may  be  derived  from  their  systems  of 
consanguinity,  their  relative  positions,  languages,  and  traditions, 
and  in  addition,  notices  of  such  actual  migrations  as  are  known 
to  have  occurred.  A  determination  of  the  probable  source  of 
the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  South  America  will  be  involved  in 
the  general  conclusions  I  seek  to  establish. 

Since  the  materials  we  now  possess  are  insufficient  for  a  con- 
clusive discussion  of  this  subject,  some  of  the  views  presented 
will  be  necessarily  conjectural.  But  as  philosophical  speculations 
precede  systems  of  philosophy,  so  historical  speculations  often 
lead  the  way  to  veritable  history.  In  the  present  state  of  our 
knowledge,  the  great  movements  of  the  American  aborigines  in 
prehistoric  ages  still  lie  within  the  domain  of  speculation.  A 
probable  hypothesis  with  respect  to  the  initial  point  of  these 
migrations  is  the  utmost  we  may  hope  at  present  to  reach. 

It  will  be  my  principal  object  to  bring  together  a  body  of  facts, 
bearing  upon  these  migrations,  which  tend  to  establish  their 
starting-point  in  the  valley  of  the  Columbia  river,  and  at  the 
outset  three  propositions  will  be  assumed  to  be  true  :  First,  that 
there  was  a  time,  in  the  past,  when  North  and  South  America 
were  destitute  of  human  inhabitants.  Second,  that  at  the  period 
of  the  discovery  of  their  several  parts  a  people  were  found  thinly 
scattered  over  their  vast  areas,  who  agreed  so  minutely  in  physical 
and  mental  characteristics,  that  they  all  received  a  common 
name,  and  were  regarded,  whether  correctly  or  incorrectly,  as  a 
common  stock.  And  third,  that  the  epoch  of  their  first  occupa- 
tion was  of  very  ancient  date. 


Reprinted  from  The  North  American  Review  (Boston),  for  October,  1868,  and  January,  1870. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  159 

"With  respect  to  the  first  proposition,  no  discussion  is  necessary. 
The  second,  though  of  limited  significance,  is  nevertheless  im- 
portant. From  New  Mexico  to  Patagonia,  including  the  "West 
India  islands,  the  Spanish  navigators  and  explorers  found  this 
singular  people  universally  distributed,  and  bestowed  upon  them, 
all  alike,  the  name  of  Indians.  They  observed  no  difference  in 
type,  but,  on  the  contrary,  abundant  evidence  of  a  common  type. 
The  English  and  French  met  the  aborigines  from  near  the  con- 
fines of  the  Arctic  sea  to  New  Mexico,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific,  and  pronounced  them,  without  distinction,  American 
Indians.  This  uniform  testimony  of  the  first  discoverers,  the  gene- 
ral truthfulness  of  which  has  been  confirmed  by  all  subsequent 
observers,  tends  to  establish  one  of  two  alternative  conclusions  — 
either  that  all  these  aboriginal  nations  were  of  immediately 
common  descent,  or  that  this  uniformity  in  physical  characteris- 
tics was  the  result  of  a  continuous  intermingling  of  blood. 

Upon  the  third  proposition,  it  may  be  observed  that  the  occu- 
pation of  America  by  the  ancestors  of  the  present  Indians  extends 
backward  to  a  remote  age,  covering  a  period  of  many  thousand 
years.  If  the  unity  of  their  origin  is  assumed,  the  lapse  of  many 
ages  would  be  requisite  to  break  an  original  language  into  the 
several  existing  stock  languages,  of  which  there  are  forty,  more 
or  less,  in  North  America  alone  —  the  number  which  have  per- 
ished being  unknown  —  and  to  allow  these  in  turn  to  pass  into 
the  multitude  of  dialects  which  are  now  spoken.  On  the  con- 
trary, if  a  diverse  origin  is  assumed,  it  would  still  require  several 
thousand  years  for  two  or  more  families  genetically  unconnected, 
and  occupying  ^such  immense  areas,  to  have  intermingled  so 
completely  as  to  create  a  typical  stock,  such  as  the  Indian  stock 
has  become.  The  hypothesis  of  a  diverse  origin  would  seem 
further  to  require  that  these  families  should  have  been  restricted, 
for  mutual  accessibility,  either  to  North  or  to  South  America, 
and  to  a  limited  portion  of  one  of  these  areas,  until  the  coalescence 
had  become  complete ;  since  the  inhabitants  of  the  two  continents 
and  of  the  islands  were  entirely  isolated  from,  and  ignorant  of, 
the  existence  of  each  other  at  the  epoch  of  their  discovery. 

Barbarians,  ignorant  of  agriculture  and  depending  upon  fish 


160  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

and  game  for  subsistence,  spread  over  large  areas  with  great 
rapidity.  Under  the  operation  of  purely  physical  causes,  they 
would  reach  in  their  migrations  the  remotest  boundaries  of  a 
continent  in  a  much  shorter  time  than  a  civilized  people  with 
all  the  appliances  of  civilization.  This  important  and  well- 
established  fact  should  be  kept  constantly  in  view.  A  narrow 
sea  or  treeless  plain  might  arrest  their  progress  for  centuries ; 
but  wherever  their  feet  could  carry  them,  with  subsistence 
accessible  upon  the  way,  they  would  be  certain  to  go,  until  a 
continent  as  vast  as  the  American  in  both  its  divisions  had  been 
traversed  in  all  its  parts.  Agriculture  tends  to  localize  nations 
and  wed  them  to  the  soil,  thus  arresting  their  dispersion  or  con- 
fining it  to  contiguous  areas.  Abundant  means  of  subsistence 
tend  to  the  same  result ;  but  when  there  is  a  surplus  population 
which  becomes  emigrant,  it  seeks  similar  areas,  without  much 
regard  to  distance. 

"Whether  the  ancestors  of  the  American  aborigines  were  first 
planted  in  North  or  South  America  remains  a  question.1  Our 
knowledge  of  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  South  America, 
except  of  those  upon  the  Andes,  is  still  very  imperfect.  Descrip- 
tive notices  of  the  people,  with  some  classification  of  dialects 
into  stock  languages,  exist,  but  the  aggregate  of  information 
fails  to  meet  the  requirements  of  systematic  ethnology.  The 
inhabitants  of  the  Andes,  who  in  material  progress  and  in  the 
importance  of  their  position  far  surpassed  all  the  other  aborigines 


1  Dr.  Daniel  Wilson,  in  his  Prehistoric  Alan,  advances  the  hypothesis  of  a  peopling  of  South 
America  from  the  Polynesian  islands,  and  of  North  America  from  South  America.  It  is  with  re- 
luctance that  I  am  compelled  to  dissent  from  the  views  of  this  eminent  scholar,  who  has  done  such 
excellent  work  for  American  ethnology.  He  remarks :  "  From  some  one  of  the  early  centres  of 
South  American  population  planted  on  the  Pacific  coasts  by  Polynesian  and  other  migrations, 
nursed  in  the  neighboring  valleys  of  the  Andes  in  remote  prehistoric  times,  the  predominant 
southern  race  diffused  itself,  or  extended  its  influence  through  many  ramifications.  It  spread 
northward  beyond  the  isthmus,  expanded  throughout  the  peninsular  region  of  Central  America, 
and,  after  occupying  for  a  time  the  Mexican  plateau,  it  overflowed  along  either  side  of  the  great 
mountain  chain,  reaching  towards  the  northern  latitudes  of  the  Pacific,  and  extending  inland  to  the 
east  of  the  Rocky  mountains  through  the  great  valley  watered  by  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries. 
It  is  not,  however,  to  be  supposed  that  such  a  hypothesis  of  migration  implies  the  literal  diffusion 
of  a  single  people  from  one  geographical  centre"  (p.  595).  Farther  on  he  observes :"  But  independ- 
ent of  all  real  or  hypothetical  ramification  from  southern  or  insular  offsets  of  oceanic  migration, 
some  analogies  confirm  the  probability  of  a  portion  of  the  North  American  stock  having  entered 
the  continent  from  Asia  by  Behring's  straits  or  the  Aleutian  islands,  and  more  probably  by  the 
latter  than  the  former,  for  it  is  the  climate  that  constitutes  the  real  barrier"  (Ibid.,  p.  597). 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.    •  161 

of  South  America,  were  an  insulated  people.  This  great  chain, 
with  its  table-lands,  mountains,  valleys,  lakes,  and  rivers,  forms 
a  continent  within  itself;  and  however  satisfactory  the  informa- 
tion we  possess  with  respect  to  the  Village  Indians  of  this 
secondary  continent  might  be  regarded,  as  a  guide  to- trust  worthy 
conclusions  concerning  their  original  derivation,  some  knowledge 
of  the  great  movements  of 'the  remaining  nations  would  be  neces- 
sary. The  facts  with  respect  to  the  movements  and  relations  of 
the  North  American  Indians  are  much  better  understood,  and 
may  contain  sufficient  evidence  for  a  settlement  of  the  question 
in  favor  of  an  original  home  in  North  America.  It  is  with  an 
impression  of  the  controlling  character  of  this  evidence  that  I 
shall  treat  the  migrations  of  the  North  American  Indians  inde- 
pendently. 

At  the  period  of  their  discovery  the  American  aborigines 
were  ignorant  of  the  use  of  iron,  and,  consequently,  of  the  arts 
which  require  this  metal ;  but  they  had  undoubtedly  made  great 
progress,  as  compared  with  their  primitive  state.  They  were 
found  in  two  dissimilar  conditions.  First  were  the  Roving 
Indians,  depending  for  subsistence  upon  fish  and  game.  Second, 
the  Village  Indians,  depending  chiefly  upon  agriculture.  Be- 
tween these,  and  connecting  the  extremes  by  insensible  gradations, 
were  the  partially  Roving  and  partially  Village  Indians.1  The 
first  class  had  developed  many  useful  arts.  They  possessed  the 
art  of  striking  fire  ;  of  making  the  bow,  with  the  string  of  sinew, 
and  the  arrow-head,  both  of  flint  and  bone ;  of  making  vessels 
of  pottery;  of  curing  and  tanning  skins  ;  of  making  moccasins 
and  wearing  apparel,  together  with  various  implements  and 
utensils  of  stone,  wood,  and  bone ;  of  rope  and  net  making  from 
filaments  of  bark  ;  of  finger-weaving,  with  warp  and  woof,  the 
same  materials  into  sashes,  burden-straps,  and  other  useful  fabrics ; 
of  basket-making  with  osier,  cane,  and  splints ;  of  canoe-making  — 
the  skin,  birch-bark,  and  dug-out ;  of  constructing  timber-frame 
lodges  and  skin  tents ;  of  shaping  stone  mauls,  hammers,  and 
chisels ;  of  making  fish-spears,  nets,  and  bone  hooks,  implements 


Vide  North  American  Review,  April,  1869,  p.  494. 
12 


162  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

for  athletic  games,  musical  instruments,  such  as  the  flute  and  the 
drum,  weapons,  and  personal  ornaments  of  shell,  bone,  and  stone. 
They  had  invented  the  art  of  picture  writing,  and  had  also  de- 
veloped a  language  of  signs,  which  became  the  common  medium 
of  communication  between  nations  speaking  languages  mutually 
unintelligible.  They  possessed  a  form  of  government,  and 
clearly  defined  domestic  institutions,  which  served  to  regulate 
their  political  affairs.  When  the  extent  of  their  progress  in 
these  several  respects  is  fully  appreciated,  the  differences  between 
them  and  the  Village  Indians  will  be  found  much  less  in  degree 
than  is  usually  supposed. 

Whilst  the  Village  Indians  possessed  the  same  arts,  imple- 
ments, and  utensils,  as  well  as  institutions  and  forms  of  govern- 
ment, they  had  obtained  native  copper,  had  formed  copper 
implements,  and,  in  certain  areas,  implements  and  utensils  of 
bronze,  and  had  also  worked  native  gold  and  silver  into  various 
forms.  But  a  knowledge  of  the  use  of  these  metals  was  limited 
chiefly  to  the  Village  Indians  of  Mexico  and  Peru.  Even  among 
these,  little  progress  had  been  made  in  the  employment  of  them 
in  the  practical  arts  of  life.  In  addition  to  these  means  of  ad- 
vancement, they  had  learned  the  art  of  cultivating  the  ground, 
which  established  them  in  villages,  and  thus  gave  them  a  new 
impulse  forward.  It  is  plain  that  village  life,  upon  the  stable 
basis  of  agricultural  subsistence,  stimulated  in  a  remarkable 
manner  the  development  of  their  primitive  arts.  A  decrease  in 
the  severity  of  the  struggle  for  existence,  and  an  increase  of 
numbers  in  a  small  area,  would  necessarily  be  favorable  to  this 
progress;  which  is  conspicuously  shown  in  their  architecture 
and  stone  sculptures ;  and,  perhaps  more  decisively,  in  the  Maya 
and  Aztec  calendars  to  measure  annual  time,  and  in  the  solstitial 
stone  of  the  Peruvians.1  Ages  upon  ages  of  experience,  with 
vicissitudes  of  lapse  and  recovery,  were  required,  to  produce  the 
progress  they  had  made  at  the  epoch  of  European  discovery. 


1  In  the  lunar  months  the  Iroquois  and  other  northern  Indians,  we  find  an  early  stage  of  the  same 
thought.  In  like  manner  we  find  in  the  language  of  signs  of  the  Roving  Indians  the  incipient  forms 
out  of  which  sprung,  probably,  the  picture  writings  of  the  Aztecs,  and  ultimately  the  still  higher 
ideographs  upon  the  Copan  monuments.  If  either  of  these  forms  is  ever  read,  it  is  not  improbable 
that  the  key  will  be  found  in  this  language  of  signs,  which  is  still  in  constant  use  among  the  western 
nations.  It  is  a  very  ingenious  and  very  expressive  language. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  163 

Measured  from  the  stand-point  of  their  primitive  condition  — 
could  the  extremity  of  its  rudeness  be  known  —  the  progress  of 
the  Roving  Indians  was  probably  much  more  remarkable  in 
degree  than  that  of  the  Village  Indians  after  the  change  from 
a  roving  to  a  stationary  life.  The  stages  of  progress  in  the  ages 
of  barbarism  were  as  measured  and  real  as  the  stages  of  progress 
in  ages  of  civilization.  Notwithstanding  their  knowledge  of 
agriculture,  the  Village  as  well  as  the  Roving  Indians,  were  still 
in  the  age  of  stone.  They  were  found  using  stone  implements 
and  utensils,  which  had  not  been  abandoned  even  among  the 
more  advanced  of  the  former  class.  Agriculture,  however,  per- 
formed an  important  part  in  the  elevation  of  the  Indian  family, 
although  it  never  reached  a  sufficient  development  to  give  to  the 
Village  Indians  the  mastery  of  the  continent,  or  to  emancipate 
them  from  the  superior  power  of  the  Roving  and  partially  Village 
Indians,  from  whose  ranks  issued  the  migrating  bands  which 
peopled  the  continent.  The  principal  nations  of  Village  Indians 
in  Mexico,  if  their  traditions  can  be  trusted,  were  themselves 
emigrants  from  the  north  but  three  or  four  centuries  prior  to 
the  Spanish  conquest.  Natural  subsistence  was  contending  with 
agricultural  for  supremacy  when  European  colonization  com- 
menced. It  will  be  seen  in  the  sequel  that  the  former  appeared 
to  hold  the  mastery. 

The  American  aborigines  undoubtedly  commenced  their  ca- 
reer as  fishermen  and  hunters,  but  chiefly  as  fishermen  ;  and  the 
mass  of  them  remained  substantially  in  that  condition  down  to 
the  period  of  European  discovery.  The  exceptions  were  the 
Village  Indians,  who,  if  not  a  minority  of  the  whole  population 
of  both  North  and  South  America,  were  not  much  superior  in 
numbers  to  the  less  advanced  nations.1  It  will  be  perceived  at 
once  that  the  hunt  is  a  precarious  source  of  human  subsistence. 
Without  the  horse  to  follow  the  larger  animals  of  the  chase  upon 
the  plains,  it  was  entirely  impossible  for  nations  of  men  to  main- 
tain themselves  from  this  source  exclusively,  or  even  principally. 

1  This  opinion  is  expressed  conjecturally.  The  Village  Indians  occupied  but  a  small  portion  ol 
the  continent.  They  were  confronted  with  Roving  and  partially  Village  Indians  on  every  Bide,  and 
their  numbers,  there  are  strong  reasons  for  believing,  have  been  grossly  exaggerated. 


164  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Increased  numbers  increased  the  diligence  of  the  hunt  in  the 
same  ratio,  and  this  tended,  in  turn,  to  diminish  the  supply  of 
game.  Nations  would  rapidly  perish  if  dependent  upon  so  un- 
certain a  source  of  maintenance.  With  the  supply  of  fish  the 
rule  is  different.  In  the  ocean  and  in  the  lakes,  which  are  the 
nurseries  of  fish,  they  are  found  in  unlimited  abundance.  From 
these,  as  they  enter  the  bays  and  rivers,  they  are  taken  in  all 
seasons  of  the  year  with  facility,  and  at  certain  seasons  in  the 
largest  quantities.  There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  princi- 
pal reliance  of  the  American  aborigines  for  subsistence,  with 
the  exception  at  a  later  day  of  the  Village  Indians,  was  upon  fish. 
This  fact  will  be  found  to  have  an  important  bearing  upon  the 
formation  of  their  centres  of  populations  and  upon  their  primary 
and  secondary  migrations.  They  were  in  reality,  from  first  to 
last,  nations  of  fishermen,  who  eked  out  their  scanty  sustenance 
with  game,  natural  fruits,  and  bread  roots,  and  afterwards  —  a 
portion  of  them  —  with  the  products  of  a  limited  agriculture. 
They  wTere  found  in  all  the  intermediate  conditions,  from  those 
who  subsisted  principally  upon  fish,  as  the  Athapascans  and 
Ojibwas,  to  those  who  subsisted  principally  upon  vegetable  food, 
as  the  Aztecs  and  Tlascalans,  and  with  no  definite  boundary  line 
to  separate  one  class  from  the  other.  A  comparison  of  the  prin- 
cipal facts  bearing  upon  the  point  tends  to  show  ihatjish  was  the 
basis  of  subsistence  of  the  Indian  tribes,  to  which  their  increase  in 
numbers  and  diffusion  over  North  America  is  to  be  ascribed.  It 
was  by  the  abundance  of  this  article  of  food  that  certain  centres 
of  population  were  created,  which  first  supplied,  and  afterward 
replenished,  the  continent  with  inhabitants. 

It  should  also  be  observed  that  the  migrations  of  men  are  not 
fortuitous.  They  are  deliberate  movements,  under  the  govern- 
ment of  law.  The  influences  by  which  they  are  immediately 
brought  about  are  much  less  important  than  the  physical  condi- 
tions of  climate  and  subsistence  under  which  they  are  accom- 
plished. An  initial  point  of  migrations  does  not  become  such  by 
accident,  but  has  of  necessity  a  material  basis  in  its  natural  ad- 
vantages ;  and  it  may  be  remote  from  the  place  where  the  first 
ancestors  of  a  family  were  planted,  and  reached  only  after  several 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  165 

changes  of  location,  and  the  lapse  of  centuries  of  time.  Our 
first  inquiry,  therefore,  should  be,  whether  in  fact  there  was  any 
one  region  or  district  of  country  in  North  America  which  pos- 
sessed advantages  for  Indian  occupation  so  far  superior  to  all 
others  as  to  render  it  a  natural  centre  of  population,  and  conse- 
quently an  initial  point  of  migrations.  If  any  such  region 
existed  upon  an  uninhabited  continent,  it  would,  when  occupied, 
stand  in  a  superior  and  commanding  relation  to  every  other  por- 
tion of  its  area  until  this  w^as  peopled  in  all  its  parts,  or  until  these 
advantages  were  neutralized  by  a  change  of  conditions  —  such, 
for  example,  as  might  result  from  the  development  of  agricul- 
ture as  a  substitute  for  fishing  and  hunting. 

Leaving  certain  other  preliminary  considerations  which  would 
naturally  suggest  themselves,  I  intend,  in  the  remainder  of  this 
article,  to  examine,  first,  the  geographical  features  of  North 
America  with  reference  to  its  natural  highways  or  lines  of  mi- 
gration ;  secondly,  to  compare  its  several  regions  with  regard  to 
the  amount  of  subsistence  which  they  respectively  afforded  to  a 
people  living  as  fishermen  and  hunters ;  thirdly,  to  test  the  re- 
sults thus  obtained  by  the  statistics  of  Indian  population  in  these 
several  areas ;  and  lastly,  to  consider  the  nature  and  distribution 
of  Indian  agriculture  in  other  areas,  as  a  means  of  counterbalanc- 
ing these  advantages.  In  this  manner  the  fact  can  be  ascer- 
tained whether  any  one  region  existed  in  North  America  possessed 
of  such  advantages  in  furnishing  spontaneously  means  of  subsist- 
ence as  to  make  it  the  natural  nursery  of  the  aboriginal  inhabit- 
ants of  the  continent. 

1.  Geographical  Features  of  North  America. —  These  features 
may  be  considered  under  the  threefold  division  of  the  prairie, 
the  mountain,  and  the  forest  areas ;  the  first  being  the  least,  and 
the  last  the  most,  desirable  territory  for  Indian  occupation. 

First,  the  prairie  areas.  The  great  central  prairies  occupy  the 
interior  of  the  northern  continent.  In  the  vastness  of  their  con- 
tinuous expanse,  and  in  the  exuberance  of  their  vegetation,  they 
are  without  a  parallel  in  any  portion  of  the  earth.  They  extend 
from  latitude  29°,  and  south  of  it,  to  the  north  of  Peace  river  in 
the  Hudson-Bay  territory,  in  latitude  60°  north.  In  their 


166  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

greatest  lateral  expansion  they  extend  from  the  western  part  of 
the  state  of  Indiana,  in  longitude  9°,  to  the  eastern  base  of 
the  Rocky  mountain  chain,  in  longitude  28°  west  of  Washing- 
ton. From  this  line  of  their  greatest  width  from  east  to  west, 
they  contract  gradually  as  they  stretch  both  northward  and 
southward,  forming  a  vast  inland  plain,  carpeted  with  grass, 
watered  by  great  rivers,  and  encompassed  by  forests.  The 
boundaries  of  this  central  prairie  region  will  be  made  familiar 
by  tracing,  briefly  their  circuit.  Commencing  j^pon  the  Rio 
Grande,  which  forms,  in  part,  the  southern  boundary  of  the 
United  States,  and  following  the  general  line  that  separates  the 
forest  from  the  prairie  northeasterly,  a  narrow  belt  of  forest  is 
found  in  Texas,  bordering  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  but  penetrated 
here  and  there  by  the  prairie,  which  reaches  the  gulf  at  several 
points,  as  at  the  mouth  of  the  Nueces  l  and  at  Matagorda  bay.2 
Louisiana,  the  eastern  part  of  Arkansas,  and  the  southeastern 
part  of  Missouri,  were  originally  forest ;  while  all  west  of  this 
line  was  prairie,  with  the  exception  of  narrow  fringes  of  forest 
along  the  rivers  and  water-courses,  and  of  small  and  irregular 
belts  of  timber  upon  the  lowlands.  Crossing  the  Mississippi 
above  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  the  prairies  follow  the  wide  belt  of 
woodlands  along  the  northern  bank  of  the  Ohio,  until  they  reach 
and  penetrate  the  state  of  Indiana,  where  their  eastern  limit  is 
found  with  the  exception  of  prairie  openings  in  central  and  eastern 
Indiana  and  in  western  Ohio.  Turning  thence  in  a  northwesterly 
direction,  the  prairie  touches  the  foot  of  Lake  Michigan  at  Chi- 
cago, from  which  point  northward  the  belt  of  forest  along  the 
western  shore  of  Lake  Michigan  widens,  so  that  the  dividing  line 
passes  a  number  of  miles  west  of  the  head  of  Lake  Superior, 
whence  it  continues  near  the  chain  of  small  lakes  to  Lake  "Winni- 
peg. Keeping  to  the  west  of  this  lake  and  of  Lake  Manitobar, 
which  is  also  bordered  with  forest,  the  boundary  line  of  the 
prairies  runs  northwesterly  to  near  the  west  end  of  Athapasca 
lake,  where  it  crosses  Peace  river,  and  extends  beyond,  to  Hay 
river,  near  the  sixtieth  parallel,  after  which  it  bears  southwesterly 

1  Bartlett's  Personal  Narrative,  n,  £29. 

3  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  m,  171. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  167 

to  the  slopes  at  the  foot  of  the  Rocky  mountains.  East,  north, 
and  northwest  of  this  line  there  is'  forest,  whilst  all  within  is 
prairie.1  Upon  the  plateau  of  Peace  river,  in  the  far  north,  are 
found  the  northern  limits  of  these  magnificent  and  verdant  fields, 
upon  which  no  eye  can  rest  without  wonder  and  admiration. 
Southward,  along  the  base  of  the  Rocky  mountain  chain,  the 
lower  slopes  of  which  are  wooded  to  the  edge  of  the  plains,  the 
prairies  spread  uninterruptedly  to  our  starting-point  on  the  Rio 
Grande. 

This  vast  area,  which  traverses  thirty-one  parallels  of  latitude 
and  nineteen  parallels  of  longitude,  in  its  greatest  continuous 
expanse,  measures  more  than  seventeen  hundred  miles  from  north 
to  south,  more  than  a  thousand  miles  from  east  to  west,  and  em- 
braces upwards  of  eight  hundred  thousand  square  miles.  It  is 
not  entirely  a  treeless  region,  neither  is  it  separated  from  the 
surrounding  forests  by  a  sharply  defined  line.  East  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi river  the  prairie  area  is  a  combination  of  forest  and 
prairies,  the  latter  greatly  predominating.  There  are  margins  of 
forest  along  the  rivers  and  water-courses,  upon  the  hills,  and  in 
numerous  districts  of  lowlands.  Besides  these  there  are  irregular 
belts  of  forest,  which  run  for  miles  independently  of  rivers  and 
streams.  Climate  is  an  efficient  cause  of  the  production  of  forest 
in  the  prairie  area  east  of  this  river.  The  humidity  of  the  atmos- 
phere from  the  prevalence  of  winds  from  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  which 
determines  the  climate  of  the  region,  tends  constantly  though 
slowly,  to  extend  the  forest  over  the  prairie  and  to  increase  the 
extent  of  its  development  upon  the  borders  of  the  rivers.  After 
crossing  the  Mississippi,  in  going  westward,  one  finds  a  gradual 
diminution  of  the  relative  extent  of  forest,  and  this  change  be- 
comes more  rapid  and  marked  beyond  the  Missouri,  in  Kansas 
and  Nebraska.2  As  we  recede  from  the  influence  of  the  gulf 
winds  and  come  in  contact  with  the  true  climate  of  the  prairies, 
it  becomes  constantly  drier,  since  the  remaining  region  is  now 
shut  in  upon  the  west  by  the  double  barrier  of  the  Rocky  moun- 


1  There  are  patches  of  prairie  northwest  of  Hay  river,  in  which  thn  timber  buffalo,  BO  called,  is 
found.    This  animal  is  smaller  than  the  ordinary  buffalo,  but  believed  to  be  the  same  species. 
Having  traversed  the  intermediate  forests,  he  has  remained  permanently  in  this  far  northern  region. 

2  Ne-blas-ka,  name  of  Platte  river  in  the  Kaw  dialect,  "  overspreading  flats  with  shallow  water." 


168  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

tains  and  the  Sierra  Nevada,  which  deprive  the  winds  of  their 
moisture  on  their  passage  from  the  Pacific  eastward.  After 
traversing  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  Kansas,  to  the 
twenty-second  meridian  west  of  Washington,  the  western  limit 
of  arable  land  in  the  prairie  area  under  consideration1  is  reached. 
"Westward  of  this  line  the  dryness  of  the  climate  continues  to  in- 
crease, the  trees  diminish  in  number  and  decrease  in  size,  and 
finally  disappear  from  the  margins  of  the  rivers.  The  grasses, 
yielding  to  the  same  influences,  become  less  and  less  luxuriant, 
until  the  prairies,  long  before  they  reach  the  base  of  the  mountains, 
degenerate  under  the  summer  sun  into  arid  plains.  Northward, 
on  the  Upper  Missouri,  the  grasses  never  attain  the  luxuriance 
which  they  display  in  Eastern  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  by  reason 
of  the  western  trend  of  this  river,  but  on  the  Upper  Mississippi 
and  along  the  Red  river  of  the  north  to  Lake  Winnepeg  they 
maintain  a  vigorous  growth. 

The  most  perfect  display  of  the  prairies  is  found  in  the  eastern 
parts  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  pro- 
nounce this  region,  as  left  by  the  hand  of  nature,  the  most  beau- 
tiful country  in  its  landscape  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  Here 
the  forest  is  restricted  to  narrow  fringes  along  the  rivers  and 
streams,  the  courses  of  which  are  thus  defined  as  far  as  the 
eye  can  reach,  whilst  all  between  is  a  broad  expanse  of  meadow- 
lands,  carpeted  with  the  richest  verdure  and  wearing  the  appear- 
ance of  artistically  graded  lawns.  They  are  familiarly  called 
the  rolling  prairies,  because  the  land  rises  and  falls  in  gentle 
swells,  which  attain  an  elevation  of  thirty  feet,  more  or  less,  and 
descend  again  to  the  original  level,  within  the  distance  of  one  or 
more  miles.  The  crest-lines  of  these  motionless  waves  of  land 
intersect  each  other  at  every  conceivable  angle,  the  eifect  of 
which  is  to  bring  into  view  the  most  extended  landscape,  and  to 
show  the  dark  green  foliage  of  the  forest  trees  skirting  the 
streams  in  pleasing  contrast  with  the  light  green  of  the  prairie 
grasses.  In  their  spring  covering  of  vegetation  these  prairies 
wear  the  semblance  of  an  old  and  once  highly  cultivated  country, 
from  the  soil  of  which  every  inequality  of  surface,  every  stone 


Explorations  for  a  Railroad  Route,  etc.,  to  the  Pacific,  i,  25. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  169 

and  every  bush  has  been  carefully  removed  and  the  surface  rolled 
down  into  absolute  uniformity.  The  marvel  is  suggested  how 
Nature  could  have  kept  these  verdant  fields  in  such  luxuriance 
after  man  had  apparently  abandoned  them  to  waste.  This 
striking  display  is  limited  to  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles 
in  the  eastern  part  of  Kansas  and  a  narrower  belt  in  Eastern 
Nebraska. 

The  great  extent  and  peculiar  features  of  the  central  prairie 
area  have  been  brought  thus  prominently  forward  for  the  pur- 
pose of  calling  attention  to  two  facts.  In  the  first  place,  that 
this  region  interposed  a  serious,  if  not  insuperable,  barrier  to  free 
communication  between  the  Pacific  and  Atlantic  sides  of  North 
America.  Between  the  thirty-second  and  fifty-fifth  parallels, 
that  is,  from  the  southern  boundary  of  New  Mexico  to  the  regions 
north  of  the  Saskatchewan  river,  there  are  but  three  or  possibly 
four  routes  of  migration  from  one  side  of  the  continent  to  the 
other — by  the  Saskatchewan  to  Lake  Winnipeg,  and  thence 
by  the  chain  of  lakes  to  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence ;  by  the 
Missouri  to  the  Mississippi,  the  least  probable  of  the  four ;  by 
the  Platte  to  the  Missouri  and  thence  to  the  Mississippi ;  and 
by  the  Arkansas  to  the  Mississippi.  On  either  route  eight  hun- 
dred miles  of  prairie,  more  or  less,  must  be  traversed  in  de- 
pendence upon  the  limited  supply  of  game  which  the  fringe  of 
forest  upon  these  rivers  and  the  open  prairies  might  be  able  to 
furnish,  and  over  which  American  emigrants,  aided  by  the  ap- 
pliances of  civilization,  have  been  barely  able  to  pass.  In  the 
second  place,  that  the  greater  part  of  this  area  west  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  nearly  all  of  it  west  of  the  Missouri,  was  a 
solitude  at  the  period  of  European  discovery.  It  is  perfectly 
evident  from  the  nature  of  these  prairies  that  they  were  never 
occupied  by  Indian  nations,  except  in  districts  of  very  limited 
extent  along  the  wooded  margins  of  the  great  rivers  by  which 
they  are  traversed.  A  region  more  inviting  to  nomadic  nations 
possessed  of  flocks  and  herds  can  scarcely  be  found  upon  any 
continent ;  but  inasmuch  as  the  American  aborigines  were  fisher- 
men and  hunters,  and  could  not  lead  a  nomadic  life  upon  these 
plains  until  they  had  obtained  the  horse,  these  vast  pastures 


170  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

were  to  them  a  waste,  except  as  the  nurseries  of  the  antelope, 
the  elk,  and  the  buffalo.  America,  generous  in  every  other  re- 
spect, had  denied  to  her  primitive  inhabitants  all  useful  animals 
capable  of  domestication,  except  the  llama  of  the  Andes. 

West  of  the  Rocky  mountains  there  are  large  expanses  of 
prairie,  in  Colorado,  Utah,  Idaho,  Nevada,  and  Arizona;  in 
California,  Oregon,  and  Washington  ;  and  also  in  British  Colum- 
bia. Southward,  in  Mexico,  the  spread  and  boundaries  of  the 
prairies  have  not  been  so  definitely  ascertained.  Chihuahua, 
Sonora,  and  Zacatecas  have  broad  prairies  within  their  limits, 
and  patches  of  prairie  land  are  said  to  be  found,  here  and  there, 
southward  to  the  valley  of  Mexico. 

2.  Mountain  Areas. —  The  mountain  regions  of  North  America 
are  extensive,  from  the  great  length  and  lateral  expansion  of  the 
Rocky  mountain  chain,  which,  under  different  names,  extends 
in  substantial  continuity  from  the  isthmus  of  Panama  to  the 
Arctic  sea.  In  its  central  part  it  sends  off  spurs  and  transverse 
ranges  to  such  an  extent,  that,  when  to  these  are  added  the 
parallel  ranges  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascade  mountains,  a 
large  portion  of  the  continent,  west  of  the  central  prairies,  is  so 
broken  up  as  to  render  it  substantially  a  mountain  country. 
Below  the  snow-line  the  declivities  of  most  of  these  mountains 
are  wooded,  as  well  as  their  lower  slopes  for  considerable  dis- 
tances outward.  Portions  of  these  ranges  are  sterile,  from  the 
dryness  of  the  atmosphere,  yet  the  greater  part  of  them  are  not 
only  habitable  for  man,  but  were  in  the  main  well  stocked  with 
game,  and  their  valleys  with  bread  roots.1  These  great  ranges 
furnished,  as  well  as  suggested,  highways  of  migration.  They 
also  gave  to  these  movements  a  general  direction  from  north  to 


1  Among  the  peculiarities  of  the  Rocky  mountains  are  the  parks.  "The  parks  of  Colorado  are 
elevated  bowls  in  the  mountain  country,  having  the  appearance  of  beds  of  inland  seas  upheaved  and 
emptied  of  their  waters  by  volcanic  agency.  They  present  to  the  eye  scenery  magnificent  beyond 
description,  made  up  of  far-reaching  forests,  fertile  meadows,  and  beautiful  streams,  surrounded  by 
the  lofty  peaks  of  the  great  Rocky  range.  The  principal  of  these  parks  are  the  North  park,  . .  . 

Middle  park,  .  . .  South  park, Huerfnno  park,  and  the  grand  San  Luis  park  in  the  southern 

part  of  Colorado,  having  an  area  of  18,000  square  miles,  watered  by  thirty-five  streams  —  sixteen  of 
them  emptying  into  the  Rio  Grande  del  Norte,  which  flows  through  its  southern  limits,  and  nine- 
teen into  San  Luis  lake,  which  extends  sixty  miles  from  north  to  south  in  the  centre  of  the  park, 
and  apparently  without  an  outlet.  This  park  is  remarkable  for  its  natural  scenery,  the  grandeur 
of  its  forests,  the  fertility  of  its  soil,  the  purity  of  its  waters,  and  the  vast  deposits  of  peat  in  the 
vicinity  of  San  Luis  lake."— Beport  of  the  Commissioner  of  General  Land  Office  for  1868,  p.  51. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  171 

south,  or  the  reverse.  It  is  not  only  probable,  but  it  can  be 
proved  with  reasonable  certainty,  that  the  migrations  upon  the 
Pacific  side  of  the  continent  followed  these  mountain  chains, 
rather  than  the  prairies  or  the  sea-coast.  With  respect  to  the 
method  of  these  movements,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  they 
were  a  series  of  flights  of  tribes  or  nations  under  the  impulse  of 
fear,  seeking  a  distant  habitation  by  the  most  convenient  route, 
and  leaving  not  a  trace  behind;  they  were  rather  a  gradual 
spread  from  an  original  centre,  preserving  the  continuity  of  the 
people  over  a  large  area,  for  the  possession  of  which  it  was  con. 
tending  with  bordering  nations  as  it  advanced  outward.  Such 
movements  would  result  from  the  displacement  from  within  of 
unsuccessful  competitors  for  the  occupation  of  an  overstocked 
area. 

It  is  another  singular  feature  of  the  northern  division  of  the 
continent,  that  no  mountain  chain  occurs  east  of  the  Rocky 
mountains  until  the  confines  of  the  Atlantic  are  reached,  where 
the  moderately  elevated  Alleghanies  are  found,  with  more  than 
fifteen  hundred  miles  of  prairie  and  forest  between.  The  last 
named  range  possesses  but  little  importance  with  reference  to 
the  migrations  of  the  Indian  nations,  as  it  was  encompassed  on 
all  sides  by  the  great  American  forests.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
mountain  districts  in  the  British  provinces. 

'3.  The  Forest  Area. —  The  remaining,  which  is  much  the 
largest,  part  of  North  America,  was  covered  with  forests  at  the 
epoch  of  European  discovery.  To  the  American  aborigines,  as 
fishermen  and  hunters,  they  aiforded  a  not  inhospitable  home. 
They  offered  every  advantage  which  could  render  the  lives  of 
men  in  their  condition  capable  of  maintenance.  But  the  vigor- 
ous and  overmastering  growth  of  forest  vegetation,  against 
which  they  had  no  power  to  contend,  must  have  constantly  re- 
tarded their  advance  in  civilization.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive 
of  a  region  more  unfavorable  to  the  progress  of  nations  out  of 
a  state  of  barbarism.  And  when,  in  course  of  time,  the  Indians 
obtained  corn  and  the  art  of  tilling  the  ground,  the  sturdy  forces 
of  nature  first  resisted  and  then  tended  to  overwhelm  their 
feeble  appliances  in  husbandry.  Notwithstanding  these  hin- 


172  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

drances,  and  the  oppressive  burdens  of  forest  life,  the  finest  speci- 
mens of  the  Indian,  north  of  Mexico,  were  found  in  strictly  forest 
nations.  The  progress  they  had  actually  made,  under  such 
immense  disadvantages,  although  small,  must  heighten  our  ap- 
preciation of  their  natural  capacities. 

There  are  two  sections  of  country  not  included  in  the  areas 
already  considered  — the  Barren  grounds,  and  the  Colorado 
basin.  The  former  occupy  the  northeastern  corner  of  the  con- 
tinent, west  of  Hudson's  bay.  They  are  bounded  by  a  line 
drawn  from  the  shore  of  this  bay  in  latitude  61°  north  to  the 
east  end  of  Great-Slave  lake,  and  thence  northeasterly  to  the 
Arctic  sea.  North  and  east  of  this  line  the  entire  region  is  des- 
titute of  trees  and  of  every  species  of  vegetation  except  the  lichen. 
It  is  utterly  barren,  and  more  dreary  than  the  ordinary  desert, 
from  its  arctic  climate.1  The  Colorado  basin  is  a  district  of  con- 
siderable extent,  traversing  several  parallels  of  latitude  and 
meridians  of  longitude,  situated  south  of  the  Humboldt  moun- 
tains and  between  the  Colorado  river  and  the  Sierra  Nevada. 
Later  explorations  show  that  this  area  is  not  probably  a  basin. 
There  is  a  series  of  seven  basins  around  and  within  the  rim  of 
the  Great  basin,  above  which  the  lowest  parts  of  the  central  area 
rise  more  than  a  thousand  feet.  The  central  portion,  which 
forms  much  the  larger  part  of  the  area,  is  broken  up  into  moun- 
tain ranges  running  north  and  south,  and  having  an  average  alti- 
tude of  five  thousand  feet.2  The  sterility  of  the  basin  is  explained 
by  the  dryness  of  the  climate,  the  annual  precipitation  being 
estimated  at  five  inches.3  Notwithstanding  its  inhospitable  cha- 
racter, this  region  still  sustains  a  considerable  Indian  population, 
but  of  the  lowest  grade. 

By  the  distribution  of  the  prairie,  the  forest,  and  the  moun- 


1  Richardson's  Journal  of  a  Boat  Voyage  through  Rupert's  Land,  London  ed,  1851,  i,  151. 

a  The  Shortest  Route  to  California  across  the  Great  Basin  of  Utah,  by  Brevet  Brig-Gen.  T.  H. 
Simpson,  1869. 

3  "  This  great  arid  region  may  be  said  to  embrace  ten  degrees  of  longitude  and  seventeen  of  lati- 
tude, drained  only  by  the  Columbia  and  Great  Colorado  rivers  in  any  outlet  to  the  sea.  Fully  half 
of  it  is  the  Great  basin  of  the  interior,  which  does  not  receive  sufficient  water  to  require  any  exter- 
nal drainage.  Taking  the  basin  as  nearly  eight  degrees  of  latitude  and  seven  of  longitude,  we  have 
ten  hundred  thousand  square  miles,  so  deficient  in  rain  as  to  send  out  no  rivers  and  to  accumulate 
no  considerable  lakes."—  BlodgetCs  Climatology  of  the  United  States,  p._352 ;  and  Hyetal  Chart,  p. 
354. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  173 

tain  areas  of  North  America,  both  the  primary  and  the  secondary 
lines  of  migration  are  clearly  revealed.  The  principal  line,  upon 
the  western  half,  is  north  and  south.  It  was  a  great  central 
route  furnished  and  suggested  by  the  Rocky  mountain  chain. 
Parallel  with  this,  and  nearer  to  the  Pacific,  was  a  second  high- 
way along  the  continuous  chains  of  the  Cascade  and  Sierra 
Nevade  mountains,  which  extend  from  a  point  opposite  Queen 
Charlotte's  sound  to  near  the  head  of  the  gulf  of  California.  A 
third  was  the  sea-coast.  Between  the  Rocky  mountains  on  the 
west,  and  the  Mississippi  and  St.  Lawrence  valleys  on  the  east, 
the  natural  lines  of  migration  were  the  great  rivers,  which  were 
secondary  in  attractiveness  and  importance.  North  of  Atha- 
pasca  lake  the  forest  offered  a  free  cornmnnication  between  the 
mountains  and  Hudson's  bay,  although  the  principal  rivers  run 
northward.  From  this  high  northern  region  to  the  southern 
limits  of  New  Mexico,  the  central  prairie  area  could  be  traversed 
only  on  the  lines  of  the  rivers  which  flowed  through  them  east- 
ward. Of  these  there  are  but  three,  perhaps  four,  possible  lines, 
as  before  stated.  First,  that  of  the  Saskatchewan,  which  fur- 
nished the  most  feasible  route ;  second,  that  of  the  Arkansas, 
possessing  nearly  equal  advantages;  third,  that  of  the  Platte, 
which  is  more  difficult  than  either;  and  lastly,  that  of  the  Mis- 
souri, which  is  substantially  an  impracticable  route,  since  the  river 
runs  for  twenty-five  hundred  miles  through  open  prairies.  For  the 
first  four  hundred  miles  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains  these  rivers 
flow  through  dry  and  substantially  treeless  regions,  and  for  the 
next  four  hundred  through  lauds  not  much  more  inviting  to 
fishermen  and  hunters.  These  obstacles  presented  a  formidable 
barrier,  as  before  remarked,  to  all  communication  between  the 
Pacific  and  Atlantic  sides  of  the  continent.  It  is  not  improbable 
that  an  original  family  of  mankind,  planted  in  and  overflowing 
from  the  valley  of  the  Columbia  as  a  nursery  land,  would  reach 
Patagonia  sooner  than  Florida,  migrating  under  the  influence 
exclusively  of  physical  causes.  The  influence  upon  Indian  mi- 
grations produced  by  the  comparative  facilities  afforded  by  these 
several  routes  will  be  referred  to  again. 

4.  Means  of  Subsistence  and  Centres  of  Population. —  The  abun- 


174  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

dance  or  scarcity  of  food,  in  different  parts  of  the  continent,  must 
have  exercised  a  decisive  influence  upon  the  course  of  Indian 
migrations,  both  as  to  stock  families  and  individual  nations. 
The  people  would  necessarily  be  drawn  towards  the  regions  where 
subsistence  was  most  easily  procured.  In  such  places  the  largest 
development  of  numbers  would  naturally  be  found.  These 
movements  would  be  gradual,  and  represent  long  periods  of  time, 
as  well  as  a  series  of  struggles  for  the  possession  of  the  most  de- 
sirable areas.  It  is  difficult  to  form  even  a  vague  conception  of 
the  actual  condition  of  the  American  aborigines  in  the  early 
periods  of  their  existence.  They  were  thinly  scattered  over  the 
greater  part  of  the  continent,  and  held  together  in  small  bands 
as  fishermen  and  hunters,  by  the  slender  ties  of  Indian  national 
life.  "With  neither  metallic  implements  with  which  to  cultivate 
the  soil,  nor  domestic  animals  for  pastoral  purposes,  they  were 
disunited,  belligerent,  and  mutually  destructive.  One  of  the 
chief  marvels  connected  with  their  history  is  the  simple  fact  that 
so  many  of  them,  as  we  have  reason  to  believe  existed,  were  able 
to  maintain  life  upon  resources  so  limited  and  so  fluctuating.  It 
serves  to  demonstrate  that  the  arts  and  appliances  of  barbarous 
nations  are  much  more  effective  for  human  maintenance  than  a 
superficial  examination  of  them  would  lead  us  to  suppose. 

A  comparison  of  the  principal  regions  of  l^ortli  America,  north 
of  Mexico,  will  reveal  material  differences  as  to  the  abundance 
of  spontaneous  means  of  subsistence.  East  of  the  Mississippi 
the  most  valuable  portion  was  that  which  bordered  upon  the 
great  lakes.  These  inland  seas  produced  fish  in  abundance. 
The  aborigines  were  able  to  take  them  in  the  bays  that  indented 
their  shores,  in  the  streams  flowing  into  them,  and  in  the  rivers 
by  which  they  were  connected  in  a  continuous  chain.  Although 
the  shore  line  of  these  lakes  measures  thousands  of  miles,  there 
were  particular  districts  which  concentrated  the  advantages  of 
each.  Of  these,  the  rapids  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior,  held 
by  the  Ojibwas,1  the  straits  of  Mackinaw,  held  at  a  later  day  by 


1  The  Crane  tribe  of  the  Ojibwas  have  the  following  legend  of  their  origin :  "  The  Great  Spirit 
created  two  cranes,  a  male  and  a  female,  in  the  upper  world,  and,  having  let  them  through  an  opening 
in  the  sky,  directed  them  to  seek  a  habitation  for  themselves  upon  the  earth.  They  were  told,  when 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  175 

the  Otawas,1  the  Georgian  bay,  held  by  the  Hurons,  may  be  cited 
as  examples.  The  south  shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  and  particularly 
the  inland  lake  region  of  central  New  York,  occupied  by  the 
Iroquois,  possessed  excellent  fisheries.  But  little  inferior  to 
these  were  the  river  districts  of  New  England,  in  which  fish  from 
the  ocean  were  found  at  particular  seasons  in  great  abundance, 
superadded  to  which  were  the  shell-fish  of  the  coast.  From 
Hudson  river  southward  to  the  James,  the  country,  for  similar 
reasons,  was  favorable  for  Indian  occupation.  It  required,  how- 
ever, south  of  the  great  lakes,  the  additional  resources  of  game 
and  of  a  limited  agriculture  to  sustain  the  numbers  found  in 
possession  of  these  several  areas  at  the  time  of  their  discovery. 
The  gulf  region  was  inferior  to  those  already  named  in  the  means 
of  subsistence  it  afforded.  It  was  poorly  supplied  with  fish,  ex- 
cept upon  the  coast,  and  with  game ;  but  these  disadvantages 
were  compensated  by  a  genial  climate,  and  by  the  greater  pro- 
ductiveness of  the  garden  beds,  upon  which  the  inhabitants 
chiefly  relied.  There  is  a  wide  district  of  country  upon  both 
sides  of  the  Ohio  river,  occupying  half  the  space  between  the 
great  lakes  and  the  gulf,  which  formed  the  poorest  part  of  the 
area  east  of  the  Mississippi.  It  was  not  destitute  of  game,  but 
poor  in  fisheries,  and  therefore  uninhabitable  without  cultivation 
of  the  soil.  The  absence  of  lakes  throughout  this  area,  and  the 
turbid  character  of  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  which  excluded 
ocean-fish,  furnish  a  sufficient  reason  why  this  entire  region  was 

they  had  found  a  place  which  suited  them,  to  fold  their  wings  close  to  their  bodies  as  they  alighted 
upon  the  chosen  spot,  when  they  should  be  immediately  transformed  into  a  man  and  woman.  The 
pair  flew  down  to  the  earth  and  spent  a  long  time  in  visiting  different  parts  of  the  continent.  They 
went  over  the  prairies,  and  tasted  the  meat  of  the  buft'alo,  which  they  found  to  be  good,  but  they 
also  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  would  not  last.  They  passed  over  the  great  forests  and  tasted 
the  flesh  of  the  elk,  the  deer,  the  beaver,  and  of  many  other  animals,  all  of  which  they  found  to  be 
excellent ;  but  they  feared  the  supply  of  food  from  these  sources  would  also  fail.  After  making  the 
circuit  of  the  great  lakes,  and  tasting  the  various  kinds  of  fish  with  which  their  waters  were  supplied 
they  came  at  last  to  the  rapids  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior,  where  they  found  fish  in  great  abun- 
dance making  their  way  through  its  noisy  waters.  They  discovered  that  they  could  be  taken  with 
ease,  and  that  the  supply  was  inexhaustible.  '  Here,'  they  said  to  each  other,  '  is  food  forever ;  here  we 
will  make  our  homes.'  Near  the  site  of  Fort  Brady,  upon  a  little  knoll  near  the  foot  of  the  rapids 
of  the  St.  Mary,  which  is  still  pointed  out,  the  cranes  alighted,  folding  their  wings  as  directed.  The 
Great  Spirit  immediately  changed  them  into  a  man  and  woman,  who  became  the  first  parenfs,  and 
the  progenitors  of  the  Crane  tribe  of  the  Ojibwas."  This  legend  was  communicated  to  the  writer 
by  Wa-be-ge-sin  (White  Hawk)  au  Ojibwa  of  the  Crane  tribe. 

1  O-ta'-was :  a  as  in  father,  a  as  in  ale. 


176  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

a  solitude  at  the  period  of  European  discovery.  It  also  tends  to 
show  that  the  mound-builders,  who  occupied  this  area  —  chiefly 
north  of  the  Ohio  —  were  Village  Indians  (probably  from  New 
Mexico) ;  otherwise  they  would  not  have  selected  this  region  in 
preference  to  others.1  Along  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi, 
above  the  Ohio,  and  upon  its  tributaries,  were  settlements  of 
Algonkin  nations  ;  but  the  occupation  of  this  region  by  them 


1  The  earthworks  of  the  so-called  mound-builders  seem  to  remain  an  insoluble  problem  in  American 
ethnology.  The  authors  of  Tlie  Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  remark  in  their  preface 
(p.  xxxiv),  that  "  the  ancient  enclosures  and  groups  of  works  personally  examined  and  surveyed 
are  upwards  of  one  hundred About  two  hundred  mounds  of  all  forms  and  sizes,  and  occupy- 
ing every  variety  of  position,  have  also  been  excavated."  Out  of  ninety-five  earthworks  (which 
probably  mark  the  sites  of  Indian  villages)  figured  and  described  in  this  memoir,  forty-seven  are  of 
the  same  type,  and  may  be  assigned  unhesitatingly  to  the  mound-builders  ;  fourteen  are  emblemati- 
cal earthworks,  mostly  in  Wisconsin,  and  may  probably  be  assigned  to  them  also  ;  but  the  remaining 
thirty-four  are  doubtful .  They  may  or  may  not  belong  to  the  class  of  Village  Indians  who  constructed 
the  works  in  the  Scioto  valley.  If  to  these  are  added  the  fifty  or  sixty  emblematical  earthworks  in 
Wisconsin  figured  and  described  by  Mr.  Lapham,  there  may  be  one  hundred  and  forty  such  works, 
large  and  small,  genuine  and  doubtful,  indicating  the  sites  of  Indian  pueblos,  of  which  something 
more  than  one  hundred  may  have  been  in  actual  occupation  at  the  same  time.  The  earthworks 
proper  must  be  regarded  as  the  sites  of  so  many  pueblo  villages,  constructed  and  occupied  by  the 
mound-builders.  The  question  then  recurs,  for  what  purpose  did  they  raise  these  embankments, 
at  an  expenditure  of  so  much  labor?  If  a  sensible  practical  use  for  these  embankments  can  be  found 
it  will  be  more  satisfactory  to  adopt  the  suggestion  than  be  subject  to  the  mischief  in  ethnology 
which  comes  from  handing  such  remains  over  to  the  category  of  mysteries.  "  A  large,  perhaps  the 
larger  portion  of  these  works,"  observe  the  same  authors,  "  are  regular  in  outline,  the  square  and 

the  circle  predominating The  regular  works  are  almost  invariably  erected  on  level  river 

terraces The  square  and  the  circle  often  occur  in  combination,  frequently  communicating 

with  each  other"  (Ibid.,  p.  6).  "  Most  of  the  circular  works  are  small,  varying  from  two  hundred 
and  fifty  to  three  hundred  feet  in  diameter,  while  others  are  a  mile  or  more  in  circuit"  (Ibid.,  p. 
8).  The  walls  of  these  embankments  are  for  the  most  part  slight,  varying  from  three  to  six,  eight, 
ten,  and^twelve  feet  in  height,  with  a  base  of  proportionate  width,  as  appears  from  numerous  cross- 
sections  furnished  by  the  authors.  But  the  circular  embankments  are  the  lowest. 

I  am  tempted  to  submit,  for  what  it  is  worth,  a  conjectural  explanation  of  the  uses  made  of  these 
embankments,  on  the  reasonable  assumption  that  the  mound-builders  were  Village  Indians  from 
New  Mexico,  the  nearest  point  from  which  such  emigrants  could  have  come  into  this  area ;  who,  as 
such,  would  have  been  apt  to  choose  this  region,  so  favorable  for  an  agricultural  subsistence,  though 
so  poor  in  fish  and  game.  As  Village  Indians  they  would  understand  cultivation,  the  use  of  adobe 
brick,  and  the  art  of  constructing  communal  houses,  closed  in  the  first  story  on  the  ground  for  de- 
fensive reasons,  and  entered  through  the  flat  roof  by  means  of  ladders,  with  which  they  ascended 
also.  If,  for  example,  a  band  of  Village  Indians,  with  such  habits,  emigrated  from  dry  New  Mexico 
to  the  Scioto  valley  in  Southwestern  Ohio,  they  would  find  it  impossible  to  construct  houses  of 
adobe  brick  able  to  resist  the  frosts  and  rains  of  that  climate.  They  would  then  be  compelled  to 
use  stone,  which  they  did  not ;  or  to  build  their  houses  of  poles  and  bark  upon  the  level  ground,  and 
thus  change  their  habits ;  or  to  raise  embankments  of  earth  as  a  substitute  for  the  first  story \  and  con- 
struct their  houses  of  poles  and  bark  upon  this  foundation.  It  is  not  improbable  that  these  em- 
bankments were  constructed  for  this  purpose,  and  were  lined  on  their  tops  with  long  pueblo  houses 
of  poles  and  bark,  the  best  they  were  able  to  build.  This  conjecture  has  a  basis  of  probability,  and 
will  bear  further  examination.  If  we  examine  the  Scioto  valley,  the  earthworks  of  which  are  the 
best  specimens  of  the  class,  we  find  within  an  extent  of  twelve  miles  the  remains  of  seven  large 
pueblo  villages,  four  upon  the  east,  and  three  upon  the  west  side  of  the  river.  The  remains  of  each 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  177 

was  comparatively  modern,  and  their  dependence  more  upon 
fish  and  game.  The  open  prairies  were  also  solitudes. 

Bancroft  estimates  the  number  of  Indians  east  of  the  Missis- 
sippi and  south  of  the  chain  of  lakes,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  at  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand.1 
This  is  as  large  a  number  as  our  information  will  justify.2 
There  is  not  the  slightest  reason  for  supposing  that  they  ever 
exceeded  that  number. 

In  the  central  prairie  area,  west  of  the  Mississippi,  there  is 


of  the  seven  consist  principally  of  an  embankment  of  earth,  several  feet  high,  and  correspondingly 
broad  at  the  base,  enclosing  a  square  or  slightly  irregular  area,  each  of  the  four  walls  or  embank- 
ments being  about  a  thousand  feet  long,  with  an  opening  or  gateway  in  the  middle  of  each,  and 
usually  at  each  of  the  four  angles  of  the  square.  Attached,  or  quite  near,  to  five  of  the  seven  are 
large  circular  enclosures,  each  formed  by  a  similar  but  lower  embankment  of  earth,  and  enclosing 
a  space  somewhat  larger  than  the  square  enclosure.  The  height  of  the  walls  of  four  of  the  square 
enclosures  are  given  respectively  at  four,  six,  ten,  and  twelve  feet,  with  bases  from  thirty  to  fifty 
feet ;  and  three  of  the  circular  embankments  are  five  and  six  feet  high  respectively.  The  embank- 
ments around  the  squares  were  probably  the  sites  of  their  houses,  since  as  the  highest  they  were 
best  adapted  to  the  purpose.  When  in  use  they  were  of  course  higher  than  at  present,  and  probably 
with  flat  tops,  and  sides  steeply  graded.  In  houses  thus  erected  upon  elevated  embankments,  some 
of  the  features  of  security  enjoyed  in  a  house  of  the  New  Mexican  model  would  be  realized.  Indians 
accustomed  to  such  houses,  and  to  spending  their  time  upon  terraced  rooftops,  would  be  apt  to 
resort  to  such  embankments,  if  unable  to  construct  houses  of  stone  after  finding  adobe  brick  unsuita- 
ble, rather  than  to  live  upon  the  level  ground.  A  number  of  these  enclosures  are  ten  hundred  and 
eighty  feet  square,  which  gives  an  aggregate  length  of  embankment  of  four  thousand  three  hundred 
and  twenty  feet,  without  deducting  the  openings,  each  of  the  four  embankments  being  dividedjat 
the  centre.  With  each  of  the  eight  surmounted  by  a  house  about  five  hundred  feet  long  and  of  the 
width  of  one  apartment,  accommodations  would  be  furnished  for  a  band  of  twelve  hundred  Indians, 
about  the  average  number  in  a  large  pueblo.  The  aggregate  length  of  the  apartments  in  the  pueblo 
of  Chetho  Kette,  on  the  Eio  de  Chaco,  in  New  Mexico,  including  the  several  stories,  is  four  thousand 
eeven  hundred  feet,  about  equal  in  accommodations  with  one  of  those  on  the  Scioto,  constructed 
as  supposed. 

With  respect  to  the  embankments  enclosing  circular  areas,  the  smaller  ones  might  have  been 
used  in  the  same  way,  and  even  the  larger,  but  for  two  objections  ;  first,  their  want  of  sufficient 
height,  and  second,  that  if  so  used  they  would  furnish  accommodations  for  from  two  to  four  thou- 
sand additional  persons,  making,  by  the  addition,  too  large  a  number  for  an  Indian  village.  Other 
uses,  such  as  that  of  a  cemetery,  or  village  common,  might  be  suggested .  In  some  of  them  mounds 
are  found  raised  over  the  remains  of  deceased  chiefs. 

If  the  conjecture  with  respect  to  the  higher  embankments  enclosing  squares  is  well  founded, 
charcoal  and  ashes,  the  remains  of  fire-pits,  should  still  be  found  at  intervals  along  their  summits, 
unless  the  banks  have  been  greatly  reduced  by  the  frosts  and  rains  of  centuries. 

»  "  We  shall  approach  and  perhaps  exceed  a  just  estimate  of  their  numbers  two  hundred  years 
ago,  if  to  the  various  tribes  of  the  Algonquin  race  we  allow  about  ninety  thousand ;  of  the  Eastern 
Sioux,  less  than  three  thousand ;  of  the  Iroquois,  including  their  southern  kindred,  about  seventeen 
thousand ;  of  the  Catawbas,  three  thousand ;  of  the  Cherokees,  twelve  thousand ;  of  the  Mobilian 
confederacies  and  tribes,  that  is,  of  the  Chickasas,  Choctas,  and  Muskhogees,  fifty  thousand ;  of  the 
lichees,  one  thousand ;  of  the  Natchez,  four  thousand :  in  all,  it  may  be,  not  far  from  one  hundred 
and  eighty  thousand  souls."  — History  of  the  United  States,  in,  253. 

2  Consult,  further,  Greenhalgh's  estimate,  1677,  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  in,  250;  Sir  William  Johnson's 
estimate,  1763,  Ibid.,  vn,  582,  and  French  estimate,  1736,  Ibid.,  ix,  1053. 

13 


178  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

but  one  district  which  calls  for  special  notice.  It  is  the  country 
upon  the  head-waters  of  the  Mississippi,  which  was  occupied  by 
the  Sioux,  or  Dakotas,  at  the  period  of  European  colonization. 
For  Indian  occupation  it  is  not  inferior  to  the  best  of  those  pre- 
viously described.  Being  a  combination  of  forest  with  prairie, 
and  within  the  range  of  the  elk  and  the  buffalo,  it  was  an  excellent 
game  country ;  but  its  chief  advantages  were  the  lakes  with  which 
Northern  Minnesota  is  literally  crowded,  which  were  well  stocked 
with  fish.1  The  Dakotas  were  without  agriculture,  and  depended 
upon  fish,  game,  and  wild  rice  (Zizania  aquatica,  Linn.).  They 
ranged  eastward  to  Lake  Superior,  and  westward  to  the  Missouri. 
Their  numbers  when  first  discovered  we  have  no  means  of  know- 
ing accurately.  They  were  one  of  the  great  stocks  of  the  North- 
ern Indians,  and  stood  next  to  the  Iroquois  in  character  and 
strength.  The  French  estimate  of  1736  gave  them  about  twelve 
thousand.2  They  now  number  upwards  of  thirty  thousand. 

The  Lower  Missouri,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Platte  river,  was 
a  poor  country  for  Indian  occupation.  Several  small  nations 
dwelt  upon  its  banks,  and  continued  to  maintain  a  bare  subsist- 
ence. Above  the  Platte  the  forest  is  confined  to  the  bottom 
lands  within  the  bluffs,  except  in  places  near  the  mountains,  and 
is  interrupted  for  long  distances  even  within  this  narrow  valley. 
This  river,  from  its  turbid  character,  is  also  poorly  supplied  with 
fish.  Buffalo  abounded  upon  the  entire  course  of  the  Missouri. 
They  existed  in  millions  upon  the  central  prairies,  but  without 
the  horse  to  give  chase  the  Indian  hunter  was  powerless,  except 
by  accident  of  position. 

Canada  and  the  Hudson-bay  territory  were,  in  the  main, 
countries  unfavorable  to  the  sustenance  of  Indians.  Fish  and 
rabbits  were  the  principal  food  of  their  aboriginal  inhabitants. 


1  These  lakes,  which  are  from  one-fourth  of  a  mile  to  ten  and  twenty  miles  in  length,  are  connected, 
many  of  them,  by  continuous  outlets,  and  are  still  well  supplied  with  fish.    It  is  a  lacustrine  region 
in  the  full  sense  of  the  term,  about  one-twentieth  of  the  surface  being  covered  with  lakes.    I 
counted  within  an  extent  of  sixty-five  miles  sixty-one  lakes,  in  which  number  were  included  such 
only  as  contained  clear  water  and  were  from  an  eighth  of  a  mile  to  ten  miles  in  length.    They  were 
within  a  belt  not  exceeding  ten  miles  in  width  upon  the  route  traveled,  which  was  as  far  as  the 
country  could  be  seen,  from  the  rolling  character  of  the  surface.    These  lakes  were  usually  wooded 
upon  the  north  and  east  sides,  and  bordered  with  prairie  on  the  south  and  west,  thus  showing  the 
prevailing  direction  of  the  winds. 

2  Colon.  Hist.  New  York,  ix,  1052. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  179 

The  thick  wood  region  lying  around  Hudson's  bay,  and  embraced 
within  a  circuit  of  three  hundred  miles  from  its  shores,  was  cold, 
rugged,  and  swampy.  Nearly  half  of  this  district  is  under 
water ;  and  yet  it  was  thinly  peopled  from  Lake  Winnipeg  to 
the  confines  of  the  Eskimos  on  the  coast  of  Labrador.  There 
were  no  centres  of  population  within  this  area.  North  of  the 
prairie  area,  or  of  Peace  river,  there  is  a  gradual  descent  of  a 
thousand  miles  to  the  Northern  ocean.  Its  rivers  and  lakes  are 
well  supplied  with  fish,  and  its  dwarfed  forest  with  some  kinds 
of  game.  A  short  hot  summer  visits  both  the  Mackenzie  and 
Yukon  river  districts,  but  for  the  remainder  of  the  year  it  is 
intensely  cold.  Rigor  of  climate,  however,  is  not  an  absolute 
barrier  to  Indian  occupation,  although  unfavorable  to  an  increase 
of  numbers.  This  region  has  always  sustained  a  considerable 
Indian  population,  which,  within  the  last  two  centuries,  through 
the  peaceful  relations  preserved  among  them  by  the  Hudson- 
Bay  company  and  by  the  trade  in  furs,  has  largely  increased. 

In  1857  Sir  George  Simpson  estimated  the  entire  Indian  popu- 
lation of  British  America,  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  at  sixty- 
seven  thousand  souls,  including  the  Eskimos  and  excluding  the 
half-bloods  at  Red-river  settlement.  Of  this  number  he  remarks  : 
"  Twenty-five  thousand  live  principally  upon  buffalo  meat,  and 
thirty  thousand  live  principally  upon  fish  and  rabbits."1  West 
of  the  mountains,  in  a  territory  less  than  one-eighth  of  this  in 
extent,  he  estimates  the  number  of  inhabitants  at  eighty  thousand, 
and  the  reason  for  this  great  difference  will  presently  appear. 
The  significance  of  this  disproportion  is  increased  by  the  fact 
that  the  development  of  the  larger  part  of  the  population  upon 


1  Report  from  the  Select  Committee  on  the  Hudson-Bay  Company  to  Parliament  in  1857,  p.  96. 
In  the  Appendix  to  this  report,  at  page  376,  is  the  following  estimate,  made  by  Simpson,  of  the 
number  of  Indians  in  the  Hudson-bay  territory  :  — 

Thick  Wood  Indians,  east  side  of  the  Rocky  mountains 35,000 

The  Plain  tribes,  Blackfeet,  etc 25,000 

The  Esquimaux 4,000 

Indians  settled  in  Canada 3,000 

Indians  in  British  Oregon  and  on  the  northwest  coast 80,000 


147,000 
Whites  and  Half-breeds  in  Hudson-bay  territory 11,000 

Total 158,000 


180  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

the  prairies  east  c  the  mountains  was  subsequent  to  their  posses- 
sion of  the  horse. 

The  general  character  of  the  country  east  of  the  Rocky 
mountains  and  north  of  New  Mexico  has  now  been  sufficiently 
set  forth  to  indicate  the  sections  where  a  considerable  popula- 
tion was  developed,  and  the  basis  upon  which  it  was  sustained. 

West  of  the  mountains  there  is  one  particular  district  which 
rises  in  importance  above  all  others  upon  the  continent.  On 
the  northwest  coast  there  is  a  region  of  ample  extent,  having 
Puget's  sound  as  its  centre  on  the  Pacific,  and  the  valleys  of 
the  Columbia  and  Frazer's  rivers  within  its  circumference, 
which  combined  so  singularly  all  the  advantages  of  the  moun- 
tain, the  forest,  the  prairie,  and  the  sea  coast  as  to  give  it  a 
superiority  over  every  other  region  either  of  North  or  South 
America.  Within  a  radius  of  five  hundred  miles  from  the 
head  of  this  sound  —  from  the  Umpqua  river  on  the  south  to 
Queen  Charlotte's  sound  on  the  north,  and  from  the  sea  coast 
to  the  western  slopes  of  the  Rocky  mountains  —  this  country, 
embracing  the  greater  part  of  the  drainage  of  the  two  rivers 
before  named,  was  singularly  well  supplied  at  the  time  of  its 
discovery  with  the  requisites  for  the  subsistence  of  Indian 
tribes.  A  mild  and  genial  climate  was  added  to  its  other 
advantages.  In  the  amount  and  variety  of  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence spontaneously  furnished,  it  had  no  parallel  in  any  part 
of  the  earth.  It  deserves  a  somewhat  minute  examination 
from  the  relation  in  which,  by  reason  of  this  fact,  it  stood  to  the 
remainder  of  the  continent. 

A  combination  of  forest  and  prairie  rendered  it  an  excellent 
game  country,  although  it  was  not  entered  by  the  buffalo.  Elk, 
bear,  deer,  mountain  sheep,  the  rabbit,  and  the  beaver  were 
abundant,  and  as  they  found  refuge  in  the  fastnesses  of  the 
mountains  or  on  the  open  prairies  their  extermination  was  im- 
possible. "With  water  and  land  fowls  of  different  species  the 
region  was  well  supplied,  together  with  wild  fruits  and  berries 
of  various  kinds.  In  the  kamash  (ka'-mash)  root,  from  which 
they  prepared  a  species  of  bread,  and  which  was  found  in  inex- 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  181 

hauetible  supplies  upon  the  prairies,  they  possessed  a  resource 
of  no  small  importance,  particularly  in  seasons  of  scarcity.1 
Other  bread  roots  were  also  found  in  this  area,  such  as  the  cayusc 
and  biscuit,  and  likewise  a  species  of  edible  black  moss,2  each  of 
which  entered  more  or  less  into  the  subsistence  of  the  aborigines. 
In  these  several  respects  this  region  was  not  greatly  superior  to 
some  of  those  previously  named.  The  signal  advantages  which 
it  possessed  were  its  inexhaustible  salmon  and  shell  fisheries. 
From  these  sources,  and  particularly  from  the  first,  arose  that 
superabundance  of  food  which  tended  to  render  this  area  the 
nursery  of  the  Indian  family.  Along  the  inlets,  bays,  and  islands 
of  Puget's  sound,  which  has  a  shore  line  of  fifteen  hundred  miles, 
and  in  the  connecting  waters  of  the  gulf  of  Georgia,  oysters  and 
clams  are  found  in  extensive  beds,  and  at  low  tide  are  gathered 
with  facility.  The  neighboring  Indians  not  only  subsisted  upon 


1  The  kamash  is  a  white  bulbous  root  resembling  the  onion.  It  has  a  blue  flower,  and  ripens  in 
June,  in  which  month  it  is  gathered.  In  Oregon  and  Washington  it  ie  found  in  abundance,  literally 
covering,  when  in  flower,  some  of  the  prairies.  The  kamash  is  first  baked,  then  formed  into  cakes 
and  dried  in  the  sun  and  air,  after  which  it  will  keep  for  a  year.  It  is  boiled  with  meat  and  also 
eaten  alone.  For  the  purpose  of  baking  they  make  a  cavity  in  the  ground  large  enough  to  hold  ten 
and  even  twenty  bushels  of  the  kamash,  and  line  it  with  pebble  stones.  After  it  is  filled  to  the  level 
of  the  surface  with  kamash  roots,  a  covering  of  pebble  stones  is  placed  over  the  mass,  then  a  second 
covering  of  grass,  upon  which  a  hearth  is  formed  of  clay.  Upon  this  hearth  a  fire  is  made,  and  con- 
tinued for  about  seventy  hours,  the  time  required  for  baking.  If  the  flre  eats  through  the  hearth, 
which  is  shown  by  a  rise  of  steam  from  the  kamash,  the  place  is  again  covered  with  mortar.  When 
the  kamash  is  taken  out  it  is  black,  soft,  and  very  sweet  to  the  taste.  It  is  then  made  into  cakes 
and  dried,  after  which  it  is  ready  for  use.  The  above  particulars  were  communicated  to  the  writer 
by  Father  De  Smet,  S.  J.,  the  distinguished  Oregon  missionary.  Governor  Stephen  thus  refers  to 
this  root :  "  The  kamash  root  forms  an  important  article  of  food  when  other  supplies  fail "  (Pres. 
Mess,  and  Docs.  1854-55,  pt.  i,  p.  423) ;  and  George  Gibbs,  Esq.,  remarks:  •'  The  Skagits  have  a 

natural  resource  in  their  camash,  which  grows  abundantly  on  the  prairies  of  Whitby's  island 

The  camash,  it  is  worth  mentioning,  improves  very  much  by  cultivation,  and  it  is  said  to  attain  the 
size  of  a  hen's  egg  [in  land  that  has  been  ploughed"  (Explorations  for  a  EaUroad  Soute,  etc.,i, 
4,83). 

3  This  moss  grows  abundantly  as  a  parasite  on  the  pine  trees  of  Oregon  and  Washington,  some  of 
which  will  yield  several  bushels.  It  is  gathered  and  washed,  after  which  it  is  formed  into  balls,  and 
baked  iu  ovens  in  the  same  manner  as  the  kamash,  the  baking  requiring  about  forty-eight  hours. 
It  comes  out  in  a  fluid  state,  and  is  much  like  liquorice  to  the  taste.  After  drying  it  in  the  sun  they 
cut  it  into  cakes  and  put  it  aside  for  use.  They  also  mix  it  with  the  kamash  after  both  are  cooked, 
and  let  them  harden  together.  When  they  are  hardened  separately  they  are  pounded  together  and 
made  into  a  kind  of  cheese .  The  kamash  is  highly  nutritious  ;  the  moss  only  moderately  so.  The 
biscuit  root  yields  a  white  flour  when  pulverized,  and  is  eaten  dry.  Besides  these  they  have  a  black 
edible  root  called  the  tobacco  root,  and  the  inner  bark  of  a  species  of  pine,  which  is  sweet  in  flavor  and 
used  as  food.  There  is  a  small  oak,  both  in  the  Rocky  and  Cascade  mountains,  which  yields  plenti- 
fully an  acorn  of  which  they  make  a  palatable  and  nutritious  soup.  The  acorns  are  gathered  in  bags 
holding  about  eighty  pounds,  and  buried  in  the  sand.  After  a  sufficient  time  they  are  taken  up,  the 
shells  are  removed,  and  the  kernels  dried  and  pounded  into  flour.  From  this  flour  the  soup  is  made. 


182  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

them  at  certain  seasons,  but  dried  them  on  strings  for  exchange 
with  inland  inhabitants  and  for  winter  use.1  It  was  the  salmon 
fisheries,  however,  that  gave  to  this  region  its  preeminence. 
The  salmon  were  not  confined  to  the  bays  upon  the  coast,  but 
they  entered  all  the  rivers  of  tin/  country,  and  penetrated  the 
recesses  of  the  mountains  as  far  as  the  tributary  streams  were 
sufficient  in  volume  to  admit  their  passage.  Besides  the  annual 
run  of  the  Chinook  salmon,  some  species  of  this  fish  were  found 
in  the  Columbia  at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  The  testimony  of  all 
observers  is  the  same  with  respect  to  their  marvelous  abundance, 
their  large  size,  and  their  excellent  quality.  Dr.  Sukley,  a  sur- 
geon in  the  United  States  army,  thus  remaks  :  "  They  come  up 
annually  in  great  numbers  on  their  way  to  the  head-waters  of  the 
Columbia.  The  Indians,  as  before  stated,  all  collect  in  the 
neighborhood  of  these  and  other  falls,  where  they  riot  in  feasting 
on  their  captured  prey.  They  kill  hundreds  and  thousands  of 
these  fish  by  spearing.  The  myriads  of  salmon  that  ascend  the 
rivers  of  the  Pacific  coast  are  almost  incredible.  In  many  places 
the  waters  appear  alive  with  them,  and  the  shores  are  thickly  lined 

with   the  dead  and    dying  fish The  Columbia  river  salmon 

weigh  from  six  to  forty  pounds.  The  Indians  along  the  river 
collect  during  the  summer  the  fish  which  they  want  for  winter 
use ;  these  are  split  open  and  the  bones  removed,  after  which 
they  are  scarified  in  various  directions,  and  then  hung  up  for  a 
short  time  in  the  smoke  of  a  fire.  They  arc  then  hung  on  poles 
or  the  branches  of  trees,  where  they  are  freely  exposed  to  the 
wind.  In  a  month  they  become  perfectly  dry,  and  are  then 
housed  in  small  storehouses.  .  .  .  Salmon  thus  dried  form  the 


1  The  Indians  of  Queen  Charlotte's  island,  as  late  as  the  year  1860,  were  accustomed  to  go  down 
by  sea  to  Vancouver's  island  and  spend  the  winter  there  to  benefit  by  these  shell-fisheries.  They 
went  in  red- wood  canoes,  each  large  enough  to  carry  fifty  persons,  and  safe  for  miles  out  at  sea. 
Mr.  Gibbs  remarks  that  "  the  tribes  living  upon  the  eastern  shore  possess  also  territory  upon  the 
islands,  and  their  usual  custom  is  to  resort  to  them  at  the  end  of  the  salmon  season,  that  is,  about 
the  middle  of  November.  It  is  there  that  they  find  the  greatest  supply  of  shell -fish,  which  form  a 
large  part  of  their  winter  stock,  and  which  they  dry  both  for  their  own  use  and  for  sale  to  those  of 
the  interior"  (Explorations,  etc.,  i,  432).  Speaking  of  the  Ohinooks,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cowlitz, 
the  same  writer  remarks :  "  it  was  really  the  principal  seat  of  the  Chinooks  proper,  who  resorted  to 
the  Columbia  mostly  for  their  spring  salmon,  while  they  dug  their  clams  and  procured  their  winter 
supplies  on  the  bay.  It  formed,  in  fact,  a  perfect  Indian  paradise  in  its  adaptation  to  canoe  travel 
and  the  abundance  of  scale  and  shell  fish  which  it  furnished"  (Ibid,  i,  427).  Vide  also  p.  408,  for 
an  account  of  the  mussel-shell  beds  on  the  Yakima. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  183 

principal  food  of  the  natives  during  the  winter."1     He  elsewhere 
observes :  "  The  salmon  of  these  waters,  unlike  those  of  other 
parts  of  the  world,  do  not  take  the  hook,  and  strange  as  it  seems, 
they  are  said  never  to  stop    searching  after  the    source  of  the 
stream  they  are  in.     Their  march  is  always    ahead   until  they 
spawn  and  die  ;  they  never  return  to  the  sea.     This  seems  to  be 
the  general  opinion  of  the  people  with  whom  I  have  conversed." 
Mr.  Gibbs,  before  mentioned,  in  speaking  of  the  salmon-fisheries 
of  the  Yakima  river,  one  of  the  tributaries  of  the  Columbia, 
says :  "  Besides  the  fisheries  at   the  Dalles,  the  Yakimas  have 
others  on  their  river,  up  which  the  salmon  run  without  interrup- 
tion far  into  the  mountains.     On  the  main  fork  in  particular  they 
penetrate  to  Lake  Kitchelus,  at  the  very  foot  of  the  dividing 
ridge.     In  addition  to  the  different  kinds  of  salmon  proper,  they 
have  also  the  salmon-trout,  two  varieties  of  the  speckled  trout  — 
the  red  and  black  spotted,  both  of  them  growing  to  a  large 
size  —  and  some  other  species  of  fresh-water  fish.     The  salmon 
they  take  in  wears  and  cast-nets.     The  wears  are  constructed, 
with  considerable  skill,  upon  horizontal  spars  and  supported  by 
tripods  of  strong  poles  erected  at  short  distances  apart,  two  of 
the  legs  pointing  up  stream   and  one  supporting  them   below. 
There  are  several  of  these  wears  on  the  main  river,  fifty  or  sixty 
yards  in  length.     The  cast-net  is  managed  by  two  men  in  a  canoe, 
one  of  whom  extends  it  with  a  pole  and  the  other  manages  the 
rope."2    Elsewhere  the  same  writer  remarks :  "  The  fishery  at 
the  Kettle  falls  is  one  of  the  most  important  on  the  river ;  and 
the  arrangements  of  the  Indians,  in  the  shape  of  drying-scaffolds 
and  storehouses,  are  on  a  corresponding  scale.     They  take  the 
fish  by  suspending  immense  baskets  upon    poles  beneath  the 
[water  as]  traps,  into  which  the  salmon  spring."3 

Father  De  Smet  described  to  the  writer  this  method  of  basket- 


1  Explorations  for  a  Railroad  Route,  etc.,  to  the  Pacific,  i,  299. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  407.    At  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  the  Ojibwas  use  a  scoop-net  to  take  white-flsh  in  the 
rapids  Two  men  push  out  into  the  stream  in  a  birch-bark  canoe,  one  at  the'stern  to  manage  the  boat 
with  a  pole  and  force  it  up  the  rapid,  while  the  other,  standing  at  the  bow,  takes  the  fish  by  plung- 
ing the  net  to  the  bottom  and  bagging  them  as  they  attempt  to  run  up  the  rapids.    The  pole  to 
which  the  net  is  attached  is  about  ten  feet  long.    This  method  is  highly  successful. 

3  Explorations  for  a  Railroad  Route,  etc.,  to  the  Padjlc,  i,  413. 


184  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

fishing,  which  he  had  frequently  witnessed  at  these  falls.     The 
basket  is  made  of  willow,  from  fifteen  to  twenty  feet  long,  five 
or  six  wide,  and  about  four  feet  deep,  with  a  high  back  upon  one 
side,  which  is  designed  to  rise  above  the  surface  of  the  water. 
A  stick  of  timber  is  firmly  anchored  in  the  rocks  below  the  falls, 
extending  out  over  the  stream  twenty  or  thirty  feet.     To  this  the 
basket  is  suspended,  and  so  far  submerged  as  to  leave  the  back 
just  above  the  water  up  stream,  while  the  opposite  side  is  several 
inches  below  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  down  stream.     The 
ascending  salmon  rise  up  the  side  of  the  basket  and  spring  into 
it,  where  they  are  held,  their  passage  up  being  arrested  by  the 
high  back ;  and  as  they  never  turn  their  heads  down  the  current 
they  are  retained  securely.     After  the  basket  in  this  manner  is 
well  filled,  a  man  descends  into  it  and  hands  out  the  fish.     Two 
hundred  salmon,  weighing  from  six  to  forty  pounds  each,  have 
been  caught  in  this  way  in  a  few  hours.     They  are  also  speared 
in  great  numbers.     It  was  a  common  occurrence,  he  remarked, 
to  take  three  thousand  salmon  in  a  day,  since  there  was  no  limit 
to  their  numbers,  and  a  whole  band  of  Indians  were  engaged  in 
the  work.    The  fish  were  divided  equally  among  the  women  each 
day,  the  number  of  females  in  each  family  forming  the  basis  of 
distribution.    He  further  observed  that  he  once  spent  thirty  days 
at  these  falls,  in  the  fishing  season,  with  the  Kootenays,  and  re- 
ceived for  his  share  of  the  fish  taken  a  sufficient  quantity,  when 
dried,  to  load  thirty  pack  mules.1     These  falls  are  fifteen  feet 
high,  but  they  present  no  barrier  to  the  passage  of  the  salmon 
up  the  river.    -He  had  often  seen  them  leap  these  falls  in  great 
numbers  ;  in  doing  which  they  keep  near  the  surface  of  the  de- 
scending water,  and  shoot  themselves  up  at  one  dart,  and  then 
continue  their  course.     It  is  simply  swimming  up  at  a  faster 
rate  than  the  water  falls.     In  these  attempts  they  often  fail,  and 
are  thrown  Iback  into  the  stream.     They  ascend  to  the  head 
waters  of  the  Columbia   and   its    tributaries,  filling  the  small 
streams,  where,  worn  out  and  exhausted,  they  perish  in  myriads. 


1  The  natives  also  prepare  fish  pemmican  from  the  salmon.  After  it  is  dried  they  pulverize  it 
and  mix  it  with  flsh  oil,  and  then  form  it  into  cakes.  It  will  not,  however,  keep  ae  long  in  this 
form  as  when  dried. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  185 

They  are  not  found  in  Clarke's  river,  however,  above  the  great 
falls. 

Lewis  and  Clarke,  the  first  explorers  of  the  Columbia,  make 
frequent  reference  to  the  salmon  fisheries,  the  methods  by  which 
the  fish  were  taken,  and  their  unlimited  numbers.  "  The  multi- 
tudes of  this  fish,"  one  of  them  remarks,  "  are  almost  inconceiv- 
able. The  water  is  so  clear  that  they  can  readily  be  seen  at  fif- 
teen or  twenty  feet,  but  at  this  season  [October,  1805]  they  float 
in  such  quantities  down  the  stream,  and  are  drifted  ashore,  that 
the  Indians  have  only  to  collect,  split,  and  dry  them  on  scaf- 
folds  The  Indians  assured  me  by  signs  that  they  often 

used  dried  fish  as  fuel  for  the  common  occasions  of  cooking."1 
Farther  on  they  write  :  "  At  the  distance  [of]  two  miles  below 
[on  the  Columbia]  are  five  new  huts,  the  inhabitants  of  which 
are  all  engaged  in  drying  fish,  and  some  of  them  in  their  canoes 
killing  fish  with  gigs ;  opposite  to  this  establishment  is  a  small 
island  in  a  bend  towards  the  right,  on  which  there  were  such 
quantities  of  fish  that  we  counted  twenty  stacks  of  dried  and 
pounded  salmon."2  These  stacks  are  subsequently  explained 
as  follows :  "  When  it  [the  fish]  is  sufiiciently  dried  it  is 
pounded  fine  between  two  stones  till  it  is  pulverized,  and  is 
then  placed  in  a  basket  about  two  feet  long  [deep]  and  one  in 
diameter,  neatly  made  of  grass  and  rushes,  and  lined  with  the 
skin  of  a  salmon,  stretched  and  dried  for  the  purpose.  Here 
they  are  pressed  down  as  hard  as  possible,  and  the  top  covered 
with  skins  of  fish,  which  are  secured  by  cords  through  the  holes 
of  the  basket.  The  baskets  are  then  placed  in  some  dry  situa- 
tion, the  corded  part  upwards,  seven  being  usually  placed  as 
close  as  they  can  be  put  together,  and  five  on  the  top  of  them. 
The  whole  are  then  wrapped  in  mats,  made  fast  by  cords,  over 
which  mats  are  again  thrown.  Twelve  of  these  baskets,  each 
of  which  contains  from  ninety  to  one  hundred  pounds,  form  a 
stack."3  Twenty  such  stacks  would  contain  about  twenty-four 
thousand  pounds  of  dried  fish.4 


1  Travels,  etc.,  to  the  Pacijlc  Ocean,  London  ed.,  quarto,  1814,  p.353.      a  Ibid.,  p.  363. 

3  Travels,  etc.,  to  the  Pacijlc  Ocean,  p.  366. 

4  Irving,  in  his  BonneviUe  (p.  385),  gives  an  account  of  the  salmon  fisheries  of  Snake  river,  one  of 


186  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

The  Columbia-river  Indians  changed  their  residences  at  the 
different  seasons  of  the  year,  much  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
aborigines  east  of  the  Mississippi  at  the  period  when  they  were 
first  visited  by  Europeans.  The  Iroquois,  for  example,  after 
planting  their  garden  beds  in  the  spring,  most  of  them,  left 
their  villages  for  their  different  fishing  encampments,  to  return 
again  in  midsummer  when  the  corn  was  in  the  green  ear.  In 
the  autumn,  and  again  in  the  winter,  parties  went  out  upon  the 
autumn  and  winter,  hunts,  to  return  before  winter  and  spring. 
Lewis  and  Clarke  describe  the  routine  of  the  Columbia  river 
Indians  at  the  period  of  their  visit,  by  saying  that  "  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  Columbia  plains,  after  having  passed  the  winter  near 
the  mountains,  come  down  as  soon  as  the  snow  has  left  the 
valleys,  and  are  occupied  in  collecting  and  drying  roots  till  about 
the  month  of  May.  Then  they  crowd  the  river,  and,  fixing 
themselves  on  its  north  side  to  avoid  the  incursions  of  the  Snake 
Indians,  continue  fishing  until  about  the  first  of  September, 
when  the  salmon  are  no  longer  fit  for  use.  They  then  bury 
their  fish  and  return  to  the  plains,  where  they  remain  gathering 
quamash  till  the  snow  obliges  them  to  desist.  They  then  come 
back  to  the  Columbia,  and,  taking  their  store  of  fish,  retire  to 
the  foot  of  the  mountains  and  along  the  creeks  which  supply 
timber  for  their  houses,  and  pass  the  winter  in  hunting  deer  and 


the  tributaries  of  the  Columbia,  as  follows :  "  They  take  these  flsh  in  great  quantities  and  without 
the  least  difficulty,  simply  taking  them  out  of  the  water  with  their  hands,  as  they  flounder  and 
struggle  in  the  numerous  long  shoals  of  the  principal  streams.  At  the  time  the  traveler  •  passed 
over  these  prairies,  some  of  the  narrow  deep  streams  by  which  they  were  traversed  were  completely 
choked  with  salmon,  which  they  took  in  great  numbers.  The  wolves  and  bears  frequent  these 
streams  at  this  season  to  avail  themselves  of  these  great  fisheries."  And  again  on  page  396:  "It 
was  on  the  20th  of  October  when  they  found  themselves  once  more  on  this  noted  stream.  The 
Shoehonees,  whom  they  had  met  with  in  such  scanty  numbers  on  their  journey  down  the  river,  now 
absolutely  thronged  its  banks,  to  profit  by  the  abundance  of  salmon  and  to  lay  up  a  stock  of  winter 
provisions.  Scaffoldings  were  everywhere  erected,  and  immense  quantities  of  fish  drying  upon 
them.  In  some  places  the  shores  were  completely  covered  with  a  stratum  of  dead  salmon,  exhausted 
in  ascending  the  river,  or  destroyed  at  the  falls  —  the  fetid  odor  of  which  tainted  the  air." 

In  the  rivers  of  Maine  the  same  thing  is  occasionally  witnessed,  where  wagon  loads  of  flsh  are 
sometimes  found  dead  upon  the  banks,  and  carried  away  for  manure.  This  is  said  to  be  occasioned 
by  stampedes  or  panics  among  the  flsh  themselves,  when  moving  in  large  numbers  up  stream  and 
encountering  some  obstruction  like  shoal  water  —  the  momentum  of  those  below  crowding  those 
above  into  a  mass,  and  forcing  them  finally  upon  the  land,  where  they  remain  to  perish.  In  like 
manner  the  beds  of  dead  salmon  found  upon  the  tributaries  of  the  Columbia  are  probably  to  be 
ezplained. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  187 

elk,  which,  with  the  aid  of  their  fish,  enables  them  to  subsist  till 
in  the  spring  they  resume  the  circle  of  their  employments."1 

Another  prominent  characteristic  of  this  region  is  the  mildness 
of  the  climate  as  compared  with  that  upon  the  same  parallels 
on  the  Atlantic  coast.  It  is  important,  since  it  rendered  less 
clothing  and  less  subsistence  necessary,  and  thus  favored  an  in- 
crease of  numbers.  The  mean  temperature  for  spring  ranges 
from  45°  to  50°  ;  for  summer,  from  60°  to  65°  ;  for  autumn,  from 
50°  to  52°  ;  and  for  winter,  from  35°  to  40°  ;  giving  a  mean  tem- 
perature for  the  year  ranging  from  50°  to  52|°.  The  annual  pre- 
cipitation varied  from  thirty  to  sixty  inches  in  different  parts  of 
the  area.2 

The  superior  advantages  which  abundance  and  variety  of  food 
and  fineness  of  climate  gave  to  this  region  over  every  other  part 
of  North  or  South  America  cannot  fail  to  arrest  attention.  Its 
superiority  for  Indian  occupation  is  created  in  the  main  by  the 
concurrence  of  a  good  climate  with  the  possession  of  the  most 
bountiful  and  widely  distributed  fisheries  to  be  found  in  any  part 
ol  the  earth.  These  two  elements,  superadded  to  other  advan- 
tages not  surpassed  if  they  are  equalled  elsewhere,  must  have 
exercised  a  potent  influence  upon  population.  From  the  super- 
abundance of  the  means  of  subsistence,  which  belongs  to  this  re- 
gion above  every  other  already  described,  or  remaining  to  be 
noticed,  the  inference  arises  that  this  area  would  develop  a  sur- 
plus of  population  from  age  to  age  ;  and  that  it  would  become 
permanently  the  point  of  departure  of  migrations  to  different 
parts  of  the  continent.  The  facts  are  suflicient  to  raise  a  pre- 
sumption that  the  valley  of  the  Columbia  was  the  region  from 
which  both  North  and  South  America  were  peopled  in  the  first 
instance,  and  afterwards  resupplied  with  inhabitants. 

A  larger  population  would  be  expected  in  this  area  than  in  any 
other  of  equal  extent,  with  the  exception  of  districts  where  agri- 
culture was  the  basis  of  subsistence ;  and  the  population  was,  in 
fact,  denser,  but  the  excess  was  not  large.  The  reason  must  be 
sought  in  the  nature  of  the  institutions  of  the  Indians,  which 


1  Travels,  etc.,  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  p.  444. 

» Blodgett's  Climatology  of  the  United  States ;  Isothermal  and  Hyetal  Charts. 


188  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

precluded  the  formation  of  a  state.  They  were  found  subdivided 
into  a  large  number  of  petty  nations,  speaking  dialects  of  several 
different  stock  languages,  which  are  more  numerous  in  this  area 
than  in  any  other  of  equal  extent  in  North  America,  thus  afford- 
ing decisive  evidence  of  the  great  antiquity  of  its  occupation.  It 
also  shows  that  no  single  nation  had  been  able  to  consolidate 
these  several  nations  into  one  in  this,  any  more  than  in  other 
parts  of  the  continent.  The  constant  tendency  was  to  disintegra- 
tion, subdivision,  and  displacement.  This  tendency  is  inherent 
in  the  institutions  of  barbarous  ages,  and  continues  in  force  until 
the  institutions  of  pastoral  or  advanced  agricultural  Jife  supplant 
them.  Confederacies  of  nations  serve  in  some  measure  to  coun- 
teract these  results ;  but  none  existed,  of  which  a  knowledge  is 
preserved,  in  the  valley  of  the  Columbia. 

The  first  estimate  of  the  number  of  the  Indians  in  that  region 
was  made  by  Lewis  and  Clarke,  in  1805.  It  included  all  the 
nations  upon  the  Columbia  and  its  tributaries  of  which  he  obtained 
knowledge,  those  upon  Puget's  sound,  and  those  in  the  southern 
part  of  British  Columbia.  They  were  estimated  in  the  aggregate 
at  eighty  thousand  souls,  which  was  probably  an  unexaggerated 
estimate.  In  1857,  the  Indian  population  in  British  America, 
west  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  was  estimated,  as  has  been  stated, 
at  eighty  thousand.  This  included  the  Louchoux  or  Kutchin 
(Ku-tchin),1  of  the  Yukon  and  Peel  rivers,2  and  some  small  bands 
scattered  along  the  narrow  belt  of  land  between  the  Russian 
possessions  and  the  Rocky  mountains,  north  of  the  fifty-fourth 
parallel  of  latitude.  The  bulk  of  these  Indians  were  south  of 
this  line,  and  within  the  area  described.  Vancouver's  and  Queen 
Charlotte's  islands  and  the  valley  of  Frazer's  river  were  well 
adapted  to  Indian  occupation,  and  undoubtedly,  in  1805,  sus- 
tained a  very  considerable  Indian  population.  For  that  part  of 
the  area  not  covered  by  the  estimate  of  Lewis  and  Clarke,  about 
fifty  thousand  may  be  added,  which  would  give  a  much  larger 
aggregate  number  than  was  found  in  any  other  region  of  equal 
extent  north  of  Mexico. 


1  U&BOO  in  food. 

*  Mr.  Murray,  before  mentioned,  who  established  the  first  trading-post  on  the  Yukon,  informed 
the  writer,  in  1861,  that  this  nation  numbered  from  three  to  four  thousand. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  189 

California,  which  embraces  a  large  area,  possessed  only  ordi- 
nary advantages  for  the  support  of  an  Indian  population.  In 
1802,  the  Spanish  missionaries  estimated  the  number  of  Indians 
at  thirty-two  thousand  and  a  fraction  over;  and  in  1852  the 
secretary  of  state  of  California  estimated  them  at  about  the  same 
number.' 

The  Roving  and  partially  Village  Indians  have  now  been  suffi- 
ciently considered  with  respect  to  their  centres  of  population, 
their  means  of  subsistence,  and  their  numbers.  It  remains  to 
notice  briefly  the  strictly  Village  Indians,  who  inhabited  the 
comparatively  small  area  from  New  Mexico  to  the  isthmus  of 
Panama.  Portions  of  this  area  were  occupied  by  Roving  In- 
dians, other  portions  by  partially  Village  Indians,  and  still  other 
portions  were  either  solitudes  or  neutral  grounds  separating 
hostile  nations.  The  largest  development  of  numbers  was  in 
and  around  the  valley  of  Mexico,  and  in  Yucatan  and  Guatemala. 
A  dense  and  unsubdued  forest  overspread  the  greater  part  of 
Central  America,  and  Mexico  was,  in  the  main,  a  forest  country. 
Since  the  Village  Indians  depended  upon  agricultural  subsist- 
ence, and  occupied  a  section  of  the  continent  poorly  supplied 
with  fish  and  game,  inquiry  should  be  directed  to  the  nature  and 
extent  of  their  agriculture.  If  the  degree  of  its  productiveness 
could  be  ascertained,  it  might  afford  means  of  ascertaining  their 
probable  numbers,  and  whether  it  secured  to  them  any  positive 
advantages  over  the  barbarous  nations  in  a  contest  for  the  mas- 
tery of  the  continent.  Before  considering  the  subject  of  Indian 
agriculture,  the  geographical  location  of  the  several  nations  of 
Village  Indians  should  be  noticed. 

Of  New  Mexico  they  were  the  chief  possessors,  occupying  the 
valley  of  the  Rio  Grande  and  its  tributaries,  and  the  valleys  of 
the  eastern  and  southern  tributaries  of  the  Colorado.  They  were 
found,  in  1540,  living  in  great  communal  houses  constructed  of 
stone  or  of  adobe  brick,  and  several  stories  high.  They  dwelt 
not  in  single  houses  with  one  family  in  each,  nor  in  many  houses 
grouped  together,  but  in  one  great  house  constructed  upon  a 
definite  model,  containing  two  hundred  apartments,  more  or  less, 


1  President's  Message  and  Documents,  1855-56,  pt.  i,  p.  575,  and  note. 


190  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

and  large  enough  for  an  entire  band  or  nation.  In  rare  cases 
several  such  houses  were  grouped  together,  as  at  Zuni;  but 
usually  they  were  situated  a  mile  or  more  apart,  in  the  same 
valley,  the  different  bands  being  leagued  together  for  mutual  de- 
fence where  they  spoke  the  same  dialect,  or  dialects  of  the  same 
stock  language.  Castaneda,  who  accompanied  the  expedition  of 
Coronado  to  New  Mexico,  in  1540-1542,  estimated  the  popula- 
tion of  the  fourteen  villages  of  Cibola  and  Tucayan  at  four 
thousand  men  (probably  warriors)  and  that  of  the  numerous 
villages  on  and  near  the  Rio  Grande  and  its  tributaries  at  sixteen 
thousand  souls  —  which  would  give  an  aggregate  of  about  fifty 
thousand  Village  Indians.1 

From  New  Mexico  southward  for  about  eight  hundred  miles 
the  country  was  unfavorable  to  Indian  occupation.  As  it  was 
thinly  peopled,  probably  its  inhabitants  never  came  into  promi- 
nent notice.  But  thence  southward  to  the  isthmus  the  country 
was  more  favorable  to  a  population  depending  upon  agriculture 
for  sustenance.  With  a  tropical  climate,  relieved  by  table-lands, 
the  disadvantage  of  the  absence  of  fisheries  and  of  the  larger 
forest-animals  was  more  than  counterbalanced  by  increased  agri- 
cultural production,  and  by  wild  fruits  and  useful  plants.  These 
advantages  were  again  lessened  by  geographical  location  and 
contracted  areas.  The  drift  of  population  seems  to  have  been 
down  the  mountain  chains  to  the  valley  of  Mexico,  and  thence 
toward  the  isthmus,  the  only  means  of  exit  from  the  north- 
ern half  of  the  continent.  Any  nation  attempting  to  hold  the 
table  lands  of  Mexico,  forming  as  they  do  a  natural  gateway  to 
the  distant  south,  must  have  been  able  to  repel  and  turn  back 
this  flow  of  migrating  bands,  or  have  been  swept  away  by  the 
current.  Moreover,  barbarous  nations  are  strongly  attracted  to 
the  seats  of  even  partial  civilization  for  purposes  of  rapine  and 
plunder :  witness  the  continuous  assaults  of  the  Apaches  and 
Navajos,  within  the  last  hundred  years,  upon  the  Village  Indians 
of  New  Mexico,  and  the  ruined  and  abandoned  pueblos  within 
that  area.  History  furnishes  some  evidence  tending  to  show 
that  no  nation,  previous  to  the  Aztec,  had  been  able  to  hold  per- 

1  Cott.  Ternaux-Cmnpana,  vol.  ix. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  191 

manently  the  table-land  of  Mexico,  or  to  develop  a  population 
upon  the  basis  of  agriculture,  able  to  maintain  itself  there, 
much  less  to  extend  its  power  and  influence  northward.  The 
Toltecs,  of  whose  previous  occupation,  advancement  in  civiliza- 
tion, and  retirement  from  the  valley  we  have  some  information, 
doubtless  repeated  the  experience  of  nation  after  nation  which 
had  preceded  them.  At  the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest  the 
Aztecs  had  been  dominant  in  the  valley  about  two  hundred  years, 
and  coming,  like  their  predecessors,  from  the  north,  they  had 
neither  extended  their  conquests,  nor  planted  a  colony  north  of 
the  borders  of  the  valley.  On  the  contrary,  they  were  confronted 
by  hostile  and  in  dependent  nations  on  the  west,  northwest,  north- 
east, and  east  sides ;  that  is,  upon  all  sides  except  the  southwest, 
south,  and  southeast,  in  which  latter  directions  they  had  extended 
their  authority  over  the  more  feeble  portion  of  the  southern  Vil- 
lage Indians. 

With  respect  to  the  numbers  and  the  social  and  civil  condition 
of  the  Village  Indians  of  Mexico  and  Central  America  at  the 
time  of  the  conquest,  our  information  is  very  far  from  satisfac- 
tory. From  the  outset  the  phenomena  of  their  civilization  appear 
to  have  been  to  the  invaders  an  enigma  of  marvelous  interest ; 
but  we  have  lost  the  principal  facts  necessary  for  its  elucidation, 
in  gaining  volumes  of  romance. 

At  that  period  the  areas  above  named  were  occupied  by  forty 
petty  nations  —  more  or  less  —  speaking  dialects  of  several  dif- 
ferent stock  languages,  living  chiefly  in  villages,  and  depending 
upon  agriculture  for  a  subsisten  ce.  Thei  r  villages  were  constructed 
in  eligible  situations  upon  the  margins  of  lakes,  the  banks  of 
rivers  and  streams,  and  sometimes  in  positions  of  natural  strength. 
Since  their  agriculture  was  confined  to  garden  beds  around  and 
near  their  villages,  the  greater  portion  of  these  countries  was  a 
wilderness  without  inhabitants,  except  as  it  was  traversed  by 
hunting  parties  or  roving  bands.  Each  nation,  or  confederacy 
of  nations,  was  under  its  own  chiefs,  and  governed  in  accordance 
with  those  usages  and  customs  which  were  the  common  inherit- 
ance of  the  Indian  race.  The  evidence  that  any  considerable 
number  of  these  nations  were  consolidated  into  a  state  is  not 
satisfactory.  In  other  words,  it  cannot  be  affirmed  that  any 


192  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

number  of  these  nations  speaking  different  stock  languages  had 
become  absorbed  into  one  national  organization,  with  common 
laws,  and  one  executive  government  to  which  they  all  acknow- 
ledged allegiance  and  from  which  they  received  protection.  The 
Aztec  confederacy,  the  dominant  Indian  power  of  the  period,  had 
subdued  the  nations  south  of  the  valley,  in  a  westerly  and  southerly 
direction  to  the  Pacific,  southeasterly  to  Guatemala,  Yucatan, 
and  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  and  along  the  western  shores  of  the  gulf 
near  Vera  Cruz ;  and  they  are  said  to  have  been  the  terror  ot 
surrounding  nations,  from  their  confederate  organization,  their 
numbers,  and  their  sanguinary  character.  The  nations  which 
they  had  conquered  were  subjected  to  tribute,  and  held  in  the 
nominal  connection  which  its  payment  implies  ;  but  the  Aztecs 
and  their  confederates  did  not  spread  over  the  territories  of  these 
nations,  nor  attempt  to  impose  upon  them  either  their  language, 
their  customs,  or  their  direct  civil  administration.  At  least  there 
is  no  satisfactory  evidence  that  they  did.  Traces  are  found 
among  these  nations  of  the  three  stages  of  political  organization 
common  among  the  northern  Indians  :  first,  the  tribe,  composed 
of  persons  of  the  same  immediate  descent ;  second,  the  nation, 
consisting  of  several  tribes  intermingled  by  marriage  and  speak- 
ing the  same  dialect;  and  lastly,  the  confederacy  of  nations  speak- 
ing dialects  of  the  same  stock  language.  Most  of  them  appear 
to  have  been  in  the  second  stage,  organized  into  nations ;  but  a 
portion  of  them  had  reached  the  third,  of  which  the  Aztec,  the 
Tlascalan,  and  perhaps  the  Cholulan  and  Michuacan  confedera- 
cies are  examples.  With  respect  to  the  tribal  organization,  the 
evidence  is  fragmentary.  Among  the  Aztecs  the  descent  of  the 
office  of  chief  from  brother  to  brother,  or  from  uncle  to  nephew, 
can  be  explained  only  by  the  hypothesis  of  a  division  into  tribes, 
with  descent  limited  to  the  female  line,  as  among  the  Iroquois.1 
The  Aztec  confederacy  embraced  the  Aztecs,  Tezcucans,  and 
Tlacopans,2  who  spoke  either  the  same,  or  dialects  of  the  same 


1  League  of  the  Iroquois,  p.  87. 

1  There  is  some  uncertainty  concerning  the  correct  name  of  the  third  nation.  Tlacopan,  on  the 
west  side  of  the  lake,  was  the  name  of  the  pueblo  of  the  Tepanecans,  one  of  the  seven  nations  who 
"  came  from  the  far  countries  which  lie  toward  the  north,  ....  to  people  the  land  of  Mexico" 
(Joseph  Acosta,  Nat.  and  Mor.  Hist.  East  and  West  Indies,  Lond.  ed.  1604,  Qrimitone's  Trans,  p. 
600).  The  latter  would  seem  to  be  the  correct  name  of  this  nation. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  193 

language,  and  occupied,  in  conjunction  with  other  villagers  of 
kindred  descent,  the  valley  of  Mexico.  It  is  not  improbable  that 
the  Chalcans,  and  other  villagers  who  maintained  a  distinctive 
name,  were  independent  members  of  the  confederacy.  The 
valley  is  oval  in  form,  being  longest  from  north  to  south,  and  is 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  in  circuit.  A  large  portion 
of  it  is  covered  with  lakes.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  series  of  hills, 
one  rising  above  the  other,  with  depressions  between,  encom- 
passing the  valley  with  a  mountain  barrier.  Within  it  the  nations 
just  named  resided  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest,  in  about 
thirty  pueblo  villages,  more  or  less.  There  is  no  evidence  that 
any  considerable  portion  of  the  confederates  resided  outside  of 
the  valley  and  the  adjacent  hill-slopes  ;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
there  is  satisfactory  evidence  that  the  remainder  of  modern 
Mexico  was  then  occupied  by  nations  who  spoke  stock  languages 
different  from  the  Aztec,  and  most  of  whom  were  independent 
of  the  Aztec  power.  This  fact  has  a  material  bearing  upon  the 
probable  numbers  of  the  people  thus  confederated.  Any  estimate 
here  must  be  purely  conjectural.  There  are  no  materials  from 
which  an  approximation  to  accuracy  can  be  made.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  a  much  larger  population  was  found  in  particular  dis- 
tricts of  Mexico  and  Central  America  than  in  any  other  equal 
area  in  North  America,  and  that  the  valley  of  Mexico  contained 
a  larger  number  of  people  than  any  other  district  of  equal  ex- 
tent. But  there  is  no  ground  for  reckoning  this  population  by 
millions  ;l  a  much  smaller  number  would  have  exhausted  the  re- 
sources of  the  country  as  developed  by  Indian  agriculture.  In  the 


1  It  is  a  common  statement,  running  through  most  of  the  histories  of  the  conquest,  that  the  pue- 
blo of  Mexico  contained  sixty  thousand  houses.  Zuazo,  who  visited  Mexico,  in  1521,  cited  by  Pres- 
cott  (Conquest  of  Mexico,  n,  112,  note),  wrote  sixty  thousand  inhabitants ;  the  Anonymous  Con- 
queror, "  sixty  thousand  fires ; "  but  Qomara  and  Martyr  wrote  sixty  thousand  houses,  and  the  last 
has  since  been  steadily  repeated  by  Clavigero  (Hist  of  Mexico,  Phila.  ed.  1817,  n,  360) ;  by  Herrera 
(Hist,  of  America,  Lond.  ed.  1725,  n,  360);  and  by  Prescott  (Conquest,  etc.,  n,  112).  Solia 
says  sixty  thousand  families  (Hist.  Conquest  of  Mexico,  Lond.  ed.  1738,  i,  399).  Torquemada,  cited 
by  Clavigero  (Ibid.,  n,  360,  note)  increases  the  number  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  houses. 
There  cannot  be  a  reasonable  doubt  that  the  houses  of  the  Aztecs  were  most  of  them  great  com- 
munal edifices  like  those  in  New  Mexico,  some  of  them  large  enough  to  accommodate  a  thousand 
or  more  people.  This  magnifies  the  exaggeration  to  an  impossibility.  If  these  later  writers  had 
any  real  knowledge  of  the  subject,  it  must  be  supposed  that  they  meant  apartments,  instead  of 
houses,  treating  each  great  house  as  a  block  of  houses,  and  estimating  the  number  of  rooms. 
Znazo's  estimate  is  probably  the  nearest  to  the  truth. 

14 


194  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

valley  of  Mexico,  excluding  the  lakes,  and  including  a  liberal  belt 
of  surrounding  hills,  there  may  be  fifteen  hundred  square  miles 
of  land.  If  we  allow  one  hundred  and  seventy  inhabitants  to  the 
square  mile,  which  is  double  the  average  number  to  the  square 
mile  in  the  state  of  l!^ew  York,  it  would  give  to  the  nations  of 
the  valley  two  hundred  and  fifty-five  thousand  souls.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  see  how  so  large  an  estimate  can  be  sustained. 

With  respect  to  the  nations  and  languages  of  Mexico,  modern 
research  has  advanced  but  little  beyond  the  sketch  of  Clavigero, 
except  in  relation  to  the  grammatical  structure  of  some  of  these 
languages.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  follow  his  authority  for  the 
names  and  locations  of  the  principal  remaining  nations.  He 
enumerates  fourteen  stock  languages  in  Mexico  and  Yucatan.1 

The  most  prominent  Indian  nations  cotemporary  with  the 
Aztecs  were  the  Chichemecs,  who  occupied  the  country  on  the 
northwest  border  of  the  valley,  and  ranged  westward  well  to- 
wards the  Pacific.  They  were  non-agricultural  and  inde- 
pendent of  the  Aztec  confederacy.2  South  of  them  were  the 
Otomies,  who  for  the  most  part  were  non-agricultural  and  in- 
dependent. A  portion  of  them  near  the  valley  appear  to  have 
been  subdued  by  the  Aztecs.  These  nations  spoke  different 
languages.  South  of  the  Otomies  and  immediately  west  of  the 
valley  of  Mexico  were  the  Michuacans,  who  occupied  a  large 
area  extending  towards  the  Pacific.  They  spoke  the  Tarasca  lan- 
guage, and  were  independent  of  the  Aztecs.  Southwest  of  the 
valley,  and  bordering  upon  it,  were  the  tributary  Matlatzincas, 
an  inconsiderable  people,  who  spoke  a  language  of  the  same 
name,  and  occupied,  with  a  portion  of  the  Otomies,  the  valley 
of  Talocan.  On  the  northeast  of  the  valley,  and  about  eighty 
miles  distant,  were  the  Meztitlans,  who  spoke  a  dialect  of  the 
Aztec,  but  were  independent.  East  of  the  latter,  and  ranging 
to  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  in  the  region  around  Tampico,  were  the 
Huastecas,  who  spoke  the  Huastec  language,  and  were  inde- 


1  History  of  Mexico,  in,  371. 

>  The  ancient  and  first  inhabitants  of  New  Spain  were  men  very  barbarous  and  savage,  which 
lived  only  by  hunting  ;  for  this  reason  they  were  called  Chichemccas.  They  neither  sow  nor  till 
the'ground  (Acosta,  Nat.  undMor.  Hist.,  elf.,  p.  497).  Although  Aco^ta  makes  thie  a  general  name 
for  the  Roving  Indians  in  Mexico,  there  was  a  distinct  nation  of  this  name  in  the  region  referred  to. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  195 

pendent.  South  of  them,  and  ranging  along  the  gulf  as  far  as 
Yera  Cruz,  were  the  Totonacs,  who  spoke  the  language  of  the 
same  name,  and  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  the  Aztec  con- 
federacy. Between  them  and  the  valley  of  Mexico,  but  confined 
to  an  area  of  moderate  dimensions,  were  the  sturdy  Tlascalans, 
also  independent.  Southwest  of  them  were  the  Cholulans,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  a  subdivision  of  the  Tlascalans.  "Whether 
the  Tlascalan  was  an  independent  stock  language  is  not  ascer- 
tained. It  is  asserted  that  the  Cholulans  were  subdued  by  the 
Aztecs  shortly  before  the  Spanish  conquest;  but  Clavigero 
places  them  in  the  list  of  independent  republics.1  In  the  areas 
south  of  the  several  nations  named,  between  the  valley  of  Mexico 
and  the  Pacific,  and  extending  eastward  to  Guatemala  and 
Yucatan,  were  several  other  nations,  of  whom  the  names  and 
locations  are  preserved,  and  but  little  besides.  Among  them 
were  the  Mixtecas  and  Zapotecas,  who  spoke  the  Mixtec  and 
Zapotec  languages;  the  Chinantecas,  Mazatecas,  Tlahuicas,  Co- 
huicas,  Popolocas,  and  several  others  scarcely  needing  enumera- 
tion—  all  supposed  to  have  been  tributary  to  the  Aztec  con- 
federacy.2 Whether  these  Village  Indians  were  permanently 
subjugated,  and  acknowledged  their  dependence  by  paying  pe- 
riodical tribute,  or  whether  their  submission  ended  with  the  foray 
that  enforced  the  tribute,  we  are  not  precisely  informed. 

The  Yillage  Indians  of  Yucatan  and  Guatemala  were,  pro- 
bably, the  highest  of  the  class  in  North  America,  as  well  as  the 
oldest  in  their  civilization.  They  possessed  some  advantage  in 
their  sheltered  position  behind  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  and  off  the 
great  highway  of  migration  to  South  America,  toward  which  the 
movements  of  the  northern  Indians  tended  to  drive  the  frag- 
mentary and  broken  nations.  The  remains  of  their  pueblos  in 
ruins  bear  testimony  to  their  higher  development.  Their  agri- 
culture must  have  been  more  efficient,  to  overcome  the  superior 
activity  of  the  forces  of  nature  in  a  tropical  climate.  "  The 


1  History  of  Mexico,  i,  6. 

*  Dona  Marina,  the  interpreter  of  Cortes,  was  born  in  the  province  of  Coatzacualco.  on  the  ?ulf  of 
Mexico,  i  ear  the  Tabasco  river,  and  spoke  a  dialect  of  the  Aztec  language.  "  Dona  Marina  under- 
stood the  language  jof  Guacacualco  and  Mexico,  which  is  one  and  the  same  "  (Bernal  Diaz,  True 
Hist.  Cong,  of  Mexico,  London  ed.  1803,  i,  76). 


106  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

kingdom  of  Yucatan,"  says  Las  Casas,  bishop  of  Chiapa,  who 
wrote  in  1539  the  relation  from  which  we  quote,  "  contained  a 
prodigious  number  of  people;  the  air  of  the  country  is  very 
temperate  and  pleasant ;  it  has  great  plenty  of  fruits,  and  all  the 

necessaries  of  life  ;   it  exceeds  Mexico  itself  in  fertility 

The  inhabitants  of  it  are  more  polite,  more  civilized,  and  better 
civilized  in  morals  and  in  what  belongs  to  the  good  order  of 
societies,  than  the  rest  of  the  Indians.  There  is  a  remarkable 
prudence  and  justness  of  mind  in  them,  which  is  not  to  be  found 
in  others."1  And  Herrera  remarks  to  nearly  the  same  effect: 
These  people  were  then  found  living  together  very  politely  in 
towns,  kept  very  clean,  without  any  ill  weeds  growing  about, 
but  with  fruit-trees  orderly  planted.  Their  temples  were  in  the 
midst  of  their  towns,  and  near  to  them  the  houses  of  their  prime 
men  and  priests,  those  of  the  commonalty  being  farther  off";  and 
the  common  wells  were  in  the  squares  or  market  places ;  and  the 
reason  of  their  being  so  close  together  was  because  of  the  wars 
which  exposed  them  to  the  danger  of  being  taken,  sold,  and 
sacrificed ;  but  the  wars  of  the  Spaniards  made  them  disperse."2 
From  the  references  of  Las  Casas  to  the  number  and  location  of 
the  pueblo  villages  in  Yucatan  and  Guatemala,  it  is  to  be  inferred 
that  they  were  numerous,  and,  when  constructed  upon  the  banks 
of  rivers,  were  so  near  together  as  to  be  in  sight  of  each  other, 
in  some  cases,  for  miles  together.  These  tribes  seem  to  have 
followed  precisely  the  same  method  of  building  as  the  Village 
Indians  of  New  Mexico. 

Within  a  few  years  after  the  conquest  of  Mexico  the  pueblo 
villages  of  Yucatan,  Guatemala,  and  Honduras  were  ravaged  by 
military  adventurers,  and  the  people  driven  from  their  pueblos 
into  the  forests.  The  Spaniards  destroyed  in  a  few  years  a 
higher  civilization  than  they  substituted  in  its  place.  "  The 
pretence,"  says  Las  Casas,  "  of  subjecting  the  Indians  to  the 
government  of  Spain  is  only  made  to  carry  on  the  design  of  sub- 


1  An  Account  of  The  first  Voyages  and  Discoveries  made  by  the  Spaniards  in  America,  London  ed. 
1699,  p.  52. 

a  Herrera,  iv,  168. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  197 

jecting  them  to  the  dominion  of  private  men,  who  make  them 
all  their  slaves."1 

The  Maya  language  was  spoken  in  Yucatan ;  the  Quiche,  Po- 
conchi,  and  some  other  languages  in  Guatemala ;  and  the  Chon- 
tal  in  Nicaragua.  Oviedo,  who  was  in  the  last-named  province  in 
1526,  states  that  there  were  five  languages  spoken  there,  of  which 
the  one  most  extensively  used  was  the  same  as  the  Aztec.2 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  nations  of  Mexico  and  Central 
America  above  enumerated  were  so  described  on  the  ground  of 
a  common  language,  and  that  some  of  them  were  subdivided  into 
nations  speaking  dialects  of  the  same  stock  language.  The  con- 
tinuity of  territorial  possession  is  usually  well  preserved  by  na- 
tions of  the  same  speech ;  but  this  did  not  arrest  the  inevitable 
tendency  to  disintegration  inseparable  from  their  institutions. 
The  number  of  nations  must  be  measured  by  dialects,  and  not 
by  stock  languages.  It  is  further  probable  that  each  group  of 
pueblos  occupied  by  people  speaking  the  same  dialect  was  inde- 
pendent, except  as  several  such  groups  were  confederated  for 
mutual  protection.  In  strictly  village  life  the  tendency  to  dis- 
ruption was  even  greater  than  in  the  non-stationary  condition ; 
and  consequently  the  Village  Indians,  although  more  numerous 
in  equal  areas,  were  probably  more  disunited  and  less  efficient 
and  warlike  than  the  barbarous  nations. 

Having  now  considered  the  most  important  districts  of  North 
America  with  reference  to  the  means  of  subsistence  which  they 
respectively  afforded,  and  compared  the  particular  advantages  of 
each  with  such  statistics  of  actual  population,  except  as  to  the 
Village  Indians,  as  our  limited  information  furnishes,  inquiry 
should  next  be  made  into  the  nature  and  extent  of  Indian  agri- 
culture ;  and  this  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  a  sub- 


1  Account  of  the  first  Voyages,  etc.,  p.  119.  Elsewhere  he  quotes  from  the  letter  of  the  bishop  of 
St.  Martha  to  the  king,  as  follows:  "To  redress  the  grievances  of  this  province,  it  ought  to  be 
delivered  from  the  tyranny  of  those  who  ravage  it,  and  committed  to  the  care  of  persons  of  integrity, 
who  will  treat  the  inhabitants  with  more  kindness  and  humanity;  for  if  it  be  left  to  the  mercy  of 
the  governors,  who  commit  all  sorts  of  outrages  with  impunity,  the  province  will  be  destroyed  in  a 
very  short  time"  (p.  61).  He  also  says,  "  Fourscore  towns  and  villages  at  least  were  burned  in 
the  kingdom  of  Xalisco  "  (p.  51).  The  good  bishop's  numbers  must  be  received  with  caution. 

1  'Irons,  Am,  Etbn.  Soc.,  i,  7, 


198  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

sistence  derived  from  agriculture,  or  one  procured  by  fishing  and 
the  chase,  tended  to  the  more  rapid  production  of  a  surplus  popu- 
lation to  be  sent  forth  as  emigrants  into  other  areas. 

Indian  agriculture  was  based  upon  one  cereal,  Indian  corn, 
and  upon  three  indigenous  plants,  the  bean,  the  squash  and  to- 
bacco. To  these,  cotton,  a  species  of  pepper,  and  of  onion,  were 
added  in  some  areas.  The  Aztecs,  and  some  of  the  nations  south 
of  them,  had,  without  cultivation,  several  useful  fruits  and  plants, 
such  as  cocoa  —  from  which  they  prepared  chocolate  —  the  ban- 
ana, and  the  maguey.  The  art  of  cultivating  the  ground 
doubtless  sprang  up  as  a  happy  accident,  after  the  Indians  had 
overspread  North  America  and  discovered  these  "gifts  of  the 
Great  Spirit  to  the  red  man."  Where  it  originated  it  is  impossible 
to  ascertain,  though  one  may  reasonably  conjecture  that  it  must 
have  been  in  a  tropical  climate,  in  some  moist,  hot  region,  where 
corn  is  most  prolific  and  was  probably  indigenous.  Its  introduc- 
tion was  a  great  event  in  the  primitive  history  of  the  Indians. 
Without  agriculture  they  could  not  have  reached  the  second  stage 
of  their  development,  namely,  that  of  permanent  villagers.  After 
the  art  of  cultivating  corn  was  acquired,  agriculture  would  spread 
with  the  people ;  but  it  would  not  be  restricted  to  the  lines 
covered  by  their  migrations.  In  many  fortuitous  ways  it  might 
be  transferred  from  nation  to  nation  by  the  opportunities  of 
aboriginal  life.  The  art  spread,  in  the  course  of  time,  throughout 
Central  America,  Mexico,  and  the  West  India  islands.  North- 
ward it  was  carried,  it  must  be  supposed,  first  into  New  Mexico, 
and  thence  to  the  Mississippi  valley,  whence  it  spread  from  the 
gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  chain  of  lakes  and  as  far  east  as  the  Kenne- 
bec  river.  The  Hurons  introduced  it  on  the  Georgian  bay  of 
Lake  Huron,  the  Shiyans  on  the  river  of  that  name,  a  tributary 
of  the  Red  river  of  the  north,  and  the  Minnitarees  on  the  Upper 
Missouri.  It  was  unknown  in  all  other  parts  of  North  America, 
and  confined  to  mere  patches  of  land  within  the  areas  named. 

Indian  agriculture  was  rude,  and  of  moderate  productiveness. 
It  was  limited  to  garden  beds  upon  alluvial  soils,  where  the  climate 
was  moist,  and  to  irrigated  garden  beds  where  it  was  dry.  This 
kind  of  cultivation  is  the  most  productive  in  equal  areas,  and  with 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  199 

irrigation  is  immensely  productive ;  but  there  was  a  drawback 
in  the  smallness  of  the  areas  that  could  be  cultivated.  The 
thought  of  subduing  the  forest  never  entered  the  Indian  mind. 
To  clear  it  was  impossible  without  metallic  implements,  and  field 
agriculture  equally  impossible  without  the  horse  or  ox  and  the 
plough,  neither  of  which  were  known  to  the  American  aborigines. 
They  cultivated  therefore  only  small  patches  of  alluvial  land  upon 
the  margins  of  rivers  and  lakes,  and  such  shreds  of  prairie  as 
they  were  able  to  dig  over,  and  such  bottom  lauds,  in  the  dry 
regions,  as  they  were  able  to  irrigate  by  means  of  canals.  But 
little  is  known  of  their  implements  for  horticulture  (for  it  was 
horticulture,  rather  than  agriculture,  which  they  practiced). 
The  Northern  Indians  probably  used  the  common  stone  chisel, 
set  in  a  handle  like  a  pick,  as  a  pointed  instrument  to  break  the 
soil ;  but  even  this  is  partly  conjectural.  A  stick  or  a  bone  was 
the  usual  implement.  In  Mexico  and  Central  America  imple- 
ments of  native  copper  were  used  to  some  extent.  Clavigero 
remarks  that,  "  to  hoe  and  dig  the  ground  they  [the  Aztecs]  made 
use  of  the  coatl,  which  is  an  instrument  made  of  copper,  with  a 
wooden  handle,  but  different  from  a  spade  or  mattock.  They 
made  use  of  an  axe  to  cut  trees,  which  was  also  made  of  copper, 
and  was  of  the  same  form  as  those  of  modern  times,  except  that 
we  put  the  handle  in  the  eye  of  the  axe,  whereas  they  put  the  axe 
into  an  eye  of  the  handle."  And  he  naively  concludes  :  "  They 
had  several  other  instruments  of  agriculture ;  but  the  negligence 
of  ancient  writers  on  this  subject  has  not  left  it  in  our  power  to 
attempt  their  description."1  Herrera,  speaking  of  the  Village  In- 
dians of  Honduras,  observes  that  they  have  "  also  Indian  wheat, 
and  kidney  beans,  which  they  sow  thrice  a  year ;  and  they  were 
wont  to  grub  up  great  woods  with  hatchets  made  of  flint,  which 
all  could  not  get  before  they  had  the  use  of  iron.  They  turned 
up  the  earth  with  long  staves  that  had  two  hooks  or  branches 
coming  from  them,  one  above  and  another  below,  to  press  hard 
with  the  arm  and  foot,  as  also  sharp  shovels  ;  being  wont  to  sow 
little,  as  they  were  very  slothful  and  often  in  want,  eating  several 


Conquest  of  Mexico,  n,  177. 


200  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

sorts  of  roots."1  Bernal  Diaz  remarks  that  "  copper  axes  and 
working  tools  "  were  offered  for  sale  in  the  markets  of  Mexico,  but 
gives  no  particulars  of  them.2  The  implements  that  they  used 
were  doubtless  of  the  simplest  and  rudest  kind.  After  their 
garden  beds  were  once  formed,  the  work  of  planting  and  culti- 
vating them  would  be  moderate  from  year  to  year ;  but  the  re- 
duction of  the  ground  in  the  first  instance  was  the  permanent 
obstacle  to  the  use  of  large  areas.  Amongst  the  partially  Village 
Indians  labor  was  despised  by  the  males  ;  the  cultivation,  conse- 
quently, fell  upon  the  overtaxed  females.  Nevertheless  this 
class  of  Indians,  east  of  the  Mississippi,  raised  crops  of  corn,  not 
large  enough  to  save  them  at  all  times  from  famine,  yet  sufficient 
to  sustain  them  in  considerable  numbers.  In  New  Mexico  and 
southward  the  labor  of  cultivation  appears  to  have  been  shared 
more  equally  between  the  sexes,  which  serves  to  explain  the 
greater  productiveness  of  the  horticulture  of  that  region. 

Irrigation  was  the  favorite  method  of  cultivation  with  the 
Village  Indians.  It  was  extensively  practiced  in  Mexico,  and 
appears  to  have  been  the  exclusive  method  in  New  Mexico.  A 
brief  explanation  of  the  ancient  method  in  the  latter  territory  ? 
where  it  is  still  practiced,  will  assist  materially  to  an  understand- 
ing of  Indian  agriculture.  The  sites  of  their  pueblos  were  usually 
in  narrow  valleys,  watered  by  streams  often  of  inconsiderable 
size.  The  pueblo  was  located  upon  high  ground  within  the 
valley,  but  the  garden  beds  were  upon  the  first  river  terrace. 
An  acequia,  or  canal,  commencing  sometimes  a  mile  or  more 
above  the  village,  was  excavated  deep  enough  to  draw  off  a  por- 
tion of  the  water  of  the  river  and  conduct  it  back  of  the  garden 
beds  to  be  irrigated,  and  not  unfrequently  one  or  two  miles 
below  the  pueblo,  where  it  was  discharged  into  the  river.  The 
acequia,  starting  from  the  river,  was  led  back  to  the  outer  margin 
of  the  valley  as  soon  as  the  descent  would  permit,  and  then  car- 
ried past  the  pueblo  at  such  an  elevation  that  the  bottom  of  the 
canal  would  be  higher  than  the  garden  beds,  which  were  laid  out 
between  the  canal  and  the  river.  These  canals  were  usually 


1  History  of  America,  iv,  133. 

*  History  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico,  i,  106. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  201 

about  ten  feet  wide  at  the  bottom,  with  sloping  banks,  and  the 
flowing  water  within  them  about  a  foot  and  a  half  deep.  If  the 
soil  was  loose,  and  the  water  not  abundant,  the  bottom  was  often 
paved  with  cobble  stones,  or,  in  some  cases,  with  flat  tiles  of  clay.1 
Lots  were  laid  off  with  a  frontage  upon  the  main  canal,  and  sepa- 
rated from  each  other  by  dividing  ridges.  Each  family,  or  group 
of  families  of  related  persons,  had  their  own  lot  which  was  private 
property.  These  lots  measured  on  the  canal,  varied  from  fifty 
to  two  hundred  feet  in  width,  and  extended  from  the  canal  to  the 
river,  or  as  far  as  the  proprietor  chose  to  cultivate.  Each  lot  was 
subdivided  into  garden  beds  about  twenty  feet  square,  surrounded 
by  embankments  about  a  foot  high  ;  so  that  a  lot  sixty  feet  front 
on  the  canal  and  two  hundred  feet  deep  would  contain  thirty 
such  beds.  After  the  ground  was  prepared,  and  before  the  seeds 
were  planted,  a  sluice  was  cut  from  the  main  canal  to  the  first 
lot,  and  the  several  garden  beds  overflowed  with  water  to  the 
depth  of  about  eight  inches ;  openings  being  made  through  the 
low  embankments  separating  the  several  garden  beds,  until  the 
water  was  conducted  over  the  entire  lot.  In  thus  irrigating  it 
was  necessary  to  dam  the  main  canal,  below  the  side  cut,  in  order 
to  turn  the  flow  of  water  into  the  garden.  This  process  was  re- 
peated from  day  to  day,  until  all  the  garden  lots  of  the  pueblo 
had  been  submerged,  and  by  the  absorption  of  the  water  brought 
into  a  proper  condition  for  the  seeds.  The  same  process  of  irri- 
gation was  repeated  when  the  growing  corn  was  about  eight 
inches  high;  and  usually  a  third  time  at  a  later  stage  of  its 
growth,  the  number  of  times  depending  upon  the  amount  of  rain 
which  might  fall  during  the  growing  season.  Very  large  crops 
of  corn,  beans,  and  squashes  were  thus  raised  upon  small  areas  ; 
but  it  will  be  seen  that  it  involved  such  an  amount  of  labor  to 
prepare  and  grade  the  ground  as  to  restrict  the  area  cultivated  to 


i  There  are  miles  of  acequias  now  in  use  in  New  Mexico,  and  the  remains  of  miles  of  abandoned 
acequias  near  the  pueblos  in  ruins.  Captain  Johnson,  U.  S.  A.,  thus  speaks  of  a  district  on  the 
Qila  fifteen  miles  long:  "The  ground  in  view  was  about  fifteen  miles,  all  of  which,  it  would  seem, 
had  been  irrigated  by  the  waters  of  the  Gila.  I  also  found  the  remains  of  an  acequia,  which  followed 
the  range  of  houses  for  miles.  It  had  been  very  large."— Reconnaissance  in  New  Mexico,  Journal 
Captain  A.  R.  Johnson,  Ex.  Doc.  No.  41,  30th  Congress,  1847-48,p.  598. 


202  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

a  small  one  for  each  pueblo.1  This  simple  but  ingenious  method 
of  cultivation  is  the  highest  evidence  that  can  be  adduced  of  the 
progress  made  by  the  Village  Indians  in  civilization. 

Another  method  of  irrigation  appears  to  have  been  practiced, 
and  upon  a  very  extended  scale,  by  the  Aztecs  and  their  con- 
federates in  the  valley  of  Mexico.  It  is  a  difficult  and  hazardous 
subject  to  touch.  Few  nations  as  small  have  elicited  such  masses 
of  historical  writing ;  and  none  have  had  their  public  affairs  de- 
corated with  such  wealth  of  imagination  ;  yet,  when  it  comes  to 
a  practical  question  as  elementary  as  the  means  whereby  they 
lived,  these  histories  afford  very  little  direct  information.  It  ap- 
pears that  they  cultivated  in  garden  beds,  and  upon  a  large  scale, 
corn,  beans,  and  pepper ;  that  they  raised  cotton  and  tobacco ; 
and  that  they  had  cocoa,  the  banana,  and  the  maguey,  the  latter 
of  which  was  utilized  in  many  different  ways.  Provisions,  such 
as  they  were,  seem  to  have  been  abundant.  But  the  support  of 
the  excessive  population  credited  to  this  valley,  upon  the  pro- 
ducts named,  in  the  absence  of  a  field  agriculture,  would  have 
required  horticultural  cultivation  upon  a  much  more  extended 
scale  than  there  is  reason  to  suppose  could  ever  have  existed. 
The  necessity  of  resorting  to  conjecture  to  explain  the  cultivation 
of  this  valley  is  the  best  evidence  of  the  imperfect  state  of  our 
knowledge.  The  one  about  to  be  offered  must  be  taken  for  what 
it  is  worth. 

In  a  previous  article  in  this  Eeview?  the  writer  observed  that 
"  Mexico  appears  to  have  been  surrounded  by  shallow  artificial 
ponds,  which  answered  as  an  exterior  defence.  It  may  be  con- 
jectured that  the  water  was  held  there  by  means  of  dikes  and 
causeways,  and  that  the  supply  of  water  was  obtained  by  dam- 
ming Lakes  Xochimilco  and  Chalco.  These  lakes  at  present 


1  A  mistaken  idea  prevails  in  regard  to  the  great  advantages  of  artificial  irrigation  over  that  of 
natural  rains.  It  is  true  that  when  the  cultivator  can  depend  upon  an  ample  supply  of  water  at  all 
seasons  in  the  irrigating  canals,  he  possesses  an  advantage  over  him  who  relies  exclusively  on 
nature.  But  the  misfortune  is  that  when  water  is  most  needed  the  supply  is  the  scantiest.  In  Feb- 
ruary and  March  there  is  always  enough  [in  New  Mexico]  for  the  first  irrigation.  In  April  and 
May  the  quantity  is  much  diminished  :  and  if  the  rise  expected  to  take  place  in  the  middle  of  May 
fails,  there  is  not  enough  to  irrigate  properly  all  the  fields  prepared  for  it :  the  consequence  is  a  par- 
tial failure  of  the  crops."—  Bartlett's  Personal  Narrative,  i,  187. 

a  April,  1869,  p.  492,  note. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  203 

are  a  little  less  than  five  feet  higher  than  the  plaza  of  Mexico, 
which,  in  turn,  is  about  six  feet  higher  than  the  present  level  of 
Lake  Tezcuco.  By  means  of  dams  and  dikes,  with  both  of  which 
the  Aztecs  were  familiar,  this  result  might  have  been  attained." 
These  suggestions  need  further  development.  In  the  absence  of 
any  evidence  that  the  climate  of  Mexico  has  changed  since  the 
Spanish  conquest,  it  must  be  assumed  that  the  level  of  Lake 
Tezcuco  was  the  same  then  as  now ;  less  the  amount  of  water 
discharged  into  it  by  the  small  lakes  to  the  northward  of  Mexico, 
the  outlets  of  which  were  turned  out  of  the  valley  by  the  tunnel  of 
Huehuetoca,  constructed  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. The  level  of  the  lake  would  vary  with  the  relative  amounts  of 
precipitation  and  evaporation.  Lake  Tezcuco,  which  is  now  three 
miles  east  of  Mexico,  is  thirteen  miles  long  and  nine  broad.  Lake 
Chalco  is  now  nine  miles  south  of  Tezcuco ;  and  Lake  Xochimilco, 
at  its  west  end,  is  five  and  half  miles  south  of  Mexico.  These  last 
lakes  are  connected  by  an  outlet,  and  together  are  fifteen  miles 
long,1  and  discharge  into  Lake  Tezcuco,  through  an  outlet  seven 
miles  long,  running  along  the  borders  of  the  present  city  of 
Mexico.  At  the  time  of  the  Spanish  invasion,  in  1519,  there  is 
no  doubt  that  the  waters  of  the  three  lakes  were  united  by  a 
narrow  neck,  and  covered  more  than  twice  their  present  areas, 
and  that  the  pueblo  of  Mexico  was  entirely  surrounded  by  water. 
"  The  city  of  Mexico  was  then  situated,"  says  Clavigero,  "  as  we 

have  already  said,  upon  a  small  island  in  Lake  Tezcuco 

i'or  the  convenience  of  passing  to  the  mainland,  there  were  three 
great  causeways  of  earth  and  stone  raised  in  the  lake.  That  of 
Iztapalapan,  towards  the  south,  upwards  of  seven  miles ;  that  of 
Tlacopan,  towards  the  west,  about  two  miles ;  and  that  of  Tepe- 
jacac,  toward  the  north,  of  three  miles  in  length ;  and  all  three 
so  broad,  that  ten  men  on  horseback  could  pass  abreast."2  And 
Herrera  to  the  same  effect :  "  Mexico,  Tenochtitlan,  is  every  way 
encompassed  with  fresh  water,  though  thick,  and,  being  in  the 
lake,  has  only  three  avenues  along  the  causeways.  One  of  them 


1  Map  of  the  Valley  of  Mexico,  by  Lieut.  Hardcnstle,    U.S.  A.;  General  Scott's  Expedition  to 
Mexico,  1847 ;  President's  Message  and  Documents,  1847-48,  p,  256. 
*  History  of  Mexico,  n,  359. 


204  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

comes  from  the  west,  about  half  a  league  in  length,  another  from 
the  north,  a  league  long.  On  the  east  there  is  no  causeway,  but 
only  canoes  to  come  at  it.  The  other  causeway  is  on  the  south, 
two  leagues  in  length,  along  which  Cortes  and  his  men  entered. 
It  is  to  be  observed  that,  as  the  lake  of  Mexico  stands,  it  seems 
to  be  but  one,  yet  there  are  two,  and  of  very  different  nature  ; 
for  the  water  of  one  of  them  is  brackish,  bitter,  naught,  and 
neither  breeds  nor  will  bear  any  sort  of  fish,  and  the  water  of 
the  other  is  fresh,  and  has  fishes,  though  small.  The  salt  ebbs 
and  flows,  more  or  less,  according  as  the  wind  blows  on  it.  The 
fresh  is  higher,  and  so  runs  into  the  salt,  and  not  the  reverse,  as 
some  have  thought,  through  six  or  seven  large  gaps  that  are  in 
the  causeway  that  divides  them,  over  which  there  are  large  wooden 
bridges.  The  salt  lake  in  some  places  is  five  leagues  over,  and 
eight  or  ten  in  length,  the  compass  of  it  being  about  fifteen. 
The  fresh  water  is  about  the  same  compass."1  The  problem  then 
is  to  explain  the  former  presence  of  a  lake  where  none  now  exists, 
with  no  change  of  climate  in  the  interval ;  the  lake  having  two 
sections,  one  of  them  brackish,  and  the  other  fresh.  Since  the 
lake  of  brackish  water  still  remains,  and  has  no  outlet,  it  explains 
itself;  but  the  fresh-water  lake  around  Mexico  has  disappeared. 
Lakes  Xochimilco  and  Chalco  are  also  much  reduced  in  size. 

The  Aztecs  as  cultivators  were  familiar  with  the  uses  of  water, 
both  for  irrigation  and  as  a  solvent  to  assist  in  the  reduction 
of  land.  They  were  also  familiar  with  dams  and  canals,  and 
constructed  dikes  miles  in  length.  The  marsh  lands  around  the 
pueblo  then,  as  around  the  city  now,  were  not  available  for  culti- 
vation. A  series  of  dams  upon  the  outlet  of  the  fresh-water 
lakes,  from  their  mouth  to  Lake  Tezcuco,  would  be  the  first 
expedient,  followed  by  lateral  dikes  for  the  formation  of  ponds 
over  the  lowlands  around  the  pueblo.  These  ponds  would 
serve  to  irrigate  the  patches  of  higher  and  better  land.  This 
plan  or  method  of  irrigation,  followed  up  for  years,  would 
finally  produce  the  result  of  covering  the  entire  region  around 
the  pueblo  with  water,  serving  as  a  defence  also,  and  necessi- 
tating the  construction  of  the  great  causeways  as  they  were 


1  History  of  America,  n,  363. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  205 

afterwards  found.  Earth  and  mud  were  thrown  up  on  the 
margins  of  the  ponds  and  formed  into  gardens,  and  every  patch 
rising  ahove  the  water  or  which  could  he  raised  by  artificial 
means  was  put  under  cultivation.  Even  floats  were  constructed 
upon  an  extensive  scale,  covered  with  earth  and  mud  and  planted 
as  garden  heds.  They  were  rather  a  necessity  of  their  method 
of  cultivation,  as  Clavigero  states,  than  the  result  of  luxury  and 
taste.1  Some  of  the  pleasure  gardens  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  conquerors  from  their  great  size  and  orderly  arrangement^ 
among  which  are  those  of  Istapalapan  and  Huaxtepec.  Of  the 
first,  Clavigero  observes  :  "  It  was  laid  out  in  four  squares  and 
planted  with  every  variety  of  trees,  the  sight  and  scent  of  which 
gave  infinite  pleasure  to  the  senses ;  through  these  squares  a 
number  of  roads  and  paths  led,  some  formed  by  fruit-bearing 
trees,  and  others  by  espaliers  of  flowering  shrubs  and  aromatic 
herbs.  Several  canals  from  the  lake  watered  it."  And  of  the 
latter  :  "  The  garden  of  Huaxtepec  was  still  more  extensive  and 
celebrated  than  the  last.  It  was  six  miles  in  circumference,  and 
watered  by  a  beautiful  river  which  crossed  it."2  There  were 
fields  of  maize  and  pepper  around  Cholula,  near  Chalco,  and 
other  towns  as  well  as  near  all  the  pueblos  in  the  valley.  Most 
of  them  appear  by  the  accounts  to  have  been  cultivated  by  irri- 
gation. "  For  the  refreshment,  of  their  fields,"  says  the  same 
author,  "  they  made  use  of  the  water  of  rivers  and  small  torrents 
which  came  from  the  mountains,  raising  dams  to  collect  them 
and  forming  canals  to  conduct  them."3  There  is  no  doubt  that 
land  was  also  cultivated  without  irrigation,  but  with  a  greater 


1  "Necessity  and  industry  together  taught  them  to  form  movable  fields  and  gardens,  which  floated 
on  the  waters  of  the  lake .  The  method  which  they  pursued  to  make  those,  and  which  they  still 
practice  is  extremely  simple.  They  plait  and  twist  willows  and  roots  of  marsh  plants  together, 
which  are  light,  but  capable  of  supporting  the  earth  of  the  garden  firmly  united.  Upon  this  founda- 
tion they  lay  the  light  busht  s  which  float  on  the  lake,  and,  over  all,  the  mud  and  dirt  which  they 
draw  up  from  the  bottom  of  the  lake .  Their  regular  figure  is  quadrangular ;  their  length  and  breadth 
Taries ;  but  as  far  as  we  can  judge,  they  are  abont  eight  perches  long,  not  more  than  three  in  breadth, 
and  have  less  than  a  foot  of  elevation  above  the  surface  of  the  water.  They  were  the  first  fields  the 
Mexicans  owned  after  the  foundation  of  Mexico  ;  there  they  first  cultivated  the  maize,  great  pepper, 
and  other  plants  necessary  for  their  support.  In  progress  of  time,  as  those  fields  grew  numerous 
from  the  industry  of  those  people,  there  were  among  them  gardens  of  flowers  and  odoriferous 
plants.1'  —  History  of  Mexico,  11,  175. 

•  History  of  Mexico,  11, 180. 
» Ibid,  n,  177. 


206  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

expenditure  of  labor  in  its  reduction.  The  topographical  map  of 
Lieutenant  Hardcastle  shows  low  grounds  around  Mexico  in  the 
precise  areas  covered  by  the  ancient  ponds.  It  is  probable  that 
the  great  square  of  the  Aztec  pueblo  was  lower  than  the  present 
level  of  the  plaza  of  Mexico ;  and  if  about  two  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  ponds,  there  would  be  about  two  feet  difference  be- 
tween the  level  of  the  latter  and  of  Lake  Tezcuco,  which  was 
then  probably  several  inches  higher  than  at  present.  A  series  of 
low  dikes  between  the  pueblo  and  Lake  Tezcuco  would  produce 
this  result  with  apparently  one  lake,  yet  in  reality  two,  as  de- 
scribed by  Herrera,  the  fresh  water  lake  being  higher  and  flow- 
ing insensibly  into  the  lower.1  In  a  short  time  after  the  conquest 
the  lake  around  Mexico  had  entirely  disappeared.  Bernal  Diaz, 
who  was  writing  his  work  in  1558,  remarks  :  "  That  which  was 
a  lake  is  now  a  tract  of  fields  of  Indian  corn,  and  so  entirely 
altered  that  the  natives  themselves  could  hardly  know  it."2  If 
this  conjecture  with  respect  to  the  formation  of  a  great  artificial 
pond  or  ponds  around  the  pueblo  of  Mexico,  by  means  of  dams 
and  dikes  to  hold  the  waters  discharged  by  Lakes  Xochimilco 
and  Chalco  and  by  the  mountain  streams,  is  accepted  as  probably 
true,  it  tends  very  much  to  raise  our  estimate  of  the  intelligence 
and  industry  of  the  nations  of  the  valley,  as  well  as  to  bring 
distinctly  before  the  mind  the  formidable  obstacles  which,  in 
their  condition,  impeded  their  progress  in  civilization.  The  evi- 
dence which  it  also  affords  as  to  the  great  amount  of  labor  con- 
nected with  the  reduction  and  cultivation  of  land  by  their  methods, 
places  a  limit  to  the  possible  population  of  these  areas. 

Whether,  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  this  continent,  a  sub- 
sistence derived  from  the  chase,  or  one  resting  upon  agriculture, 
was  more  favorable  to  an  increase  of  the  numbers  and  develop- 
ment -of  the  power  of  the  American  aborigines,  and  whether 
the  preponderating  influence  in  peopling  North  America  be- 
longed to  the  Roving  and  partially  Village  Indians,  or  to 


1  "  Around  the  city  there  were  many  dikes  and  reservoirs  for  collecting  water  when  it  was  neces- 
sary, and  within  it  so  many  canals  that  there  was  hardly  a  district  that  could  not  be  approached  by 
boats."  —  History  of  Mexico,  n,  231 . 

*  Conquest  of  Mexico,  i,  188. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  207 

the  Village  Indians  proper,  cannot  be  determined  from  the 
facts  thus  far  presented.  It  will  be  necessary  to  consider  the 
actual  migrations,  and  to  find  the  source  whence  the  emi- 
grants came,  to  procure  the  remaining  facts  necessary  to  settle 
these  questions.  For  the  present  it  may  be  remarked,  that  the 
first  effect  of  substituting  agriculture  in  the  place  of  a  subsist- 
ence obtained  from  fisheries  and  the  chase,  was  to  break  up  the 
roving  propensity  by  localizing  the  people  in  villages.  This  was 
a  substantial  advance.  It  is  found  to  be  nearly  universally  true 
of  both  divisions  of  the  American  aborigines,  that  nations  speak- 
ing dialects  of  the  same  stock  language  maintained  a  territorial 
continuity  with  each  other.  This  may  have  sprung,  in  part,  from 
the  influence  of  the  bonds  of  kinship  of  language  in  securing 
mutual  protection.  It  often  resulted  in  confederacies.  But  the 
areas  occupied  by  kindred  nations  of  Village  Indians  were  much 
smaller  than  those  held  by  an  equal  number  of  nations  of  the 
other  class.  Moreover,  from  the  direct  personal  nature  of  Indian 
government,  each  pueblo  tended  towards  a  state  of  independence 
of  every  other,  while  village  life  increased  rather  than  moderated 
the  tendency  to  political  subdivision.  This  was  a  hindrance  to 
progress.  The  inability  of  the  Indians  to  rise  out  of  the  condition 
in  which  they  were  found  was  the  result  of  the  arrested  growth 
of  the  idea  of  government.  In  the  first  place,  they  could  not 
prevent  the  divergence  of  language  into  dialects,  consequent  upon 
geographical  separation  and  diminished  intercourse ;  secondly, 
when  confederacies  were  formed,  they  wTere  established  generally 
too  late  to  include  all  the  nations  of  the  same  immediate  descent; 
and  thirdly,  they  were  unable,  with  their  means  of  subsistence, 
to  develop  population  of  the  same  descent  in  sufiicient  numbers 
within  the  folds  of  one  confederacy  to  establish  a  formidable 
power.  Their  form  of  government  was  not  adapted  to  overstep 
the  barrier  of  diversity  of  language  and  include  nations  alien  in 
speech,  except  as  tributary,  dependent,  and  humiliated.  The 
idea  of  government  is  a  growth  through  successive  periods  of 
development.  It  has  its  stages  of  development  in  barbarous 
society,  and  its  after  stages  in  civilized  society,  which  are  con- 
tinuations the  one  of  the  other,  and  all  stand  together  in  a  logical 


208  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

series.  Its  successive  forms  are  founded  upon  the  growth  of 
man's  experience  in  society.  The  American  aborigines,  as  else- 
where remarked,  had  developed  the  first  three  stages,  which 
belong  to  the  period  of  barbarism  :  first,  that  of  chief  and 
followers,  as  represented  by  the  tribe ;  second,  that  of  a  council 
of  chiefs  over  a  number  of  tribes,  as  represented  by  the  nation ; 
and  third,  that  of  a  great  council  of  chiefs  over  several  nations, 
represented  by  the  confederacy.  Out  of  this  came  a  tendency 
to  advance  a  head-chief  from  among  the  members  of  the  council, 
as  the  executive  agent  of  its  will.  For  the  sufficient  reason  that 
the  council  remained  supreme,1  it  was  rather  a  tendency  towards, 
than  the  establishment  of,  an  executive,  a  necessity  of  their  form 
of  government  rather  than  a  lodgement  of  irresponsible  power 
in  a  single  person.  In  judging  of  the  degree  of  their  progress, 
the  permanent  existence  of  a  council  which  held  the  powers  of 
government  must  be  kept  in  view.  For  another  significant 
reason  Indian  chiefs  did  not  govern  according  to  their  sovereign 
pleasure  :  because  the  power  of  deposition,  as  well  as  of  election, 
was  held  by  the  respective  tribes.  The  idea  of  a  state  is  essen- 
tially modern  in  man's  history.  In  its  perfect  development  it  is  a 
government  of  equal  and  impartial  laws  enacted  by  the  people 
themselves,  through  representatives  of  their  own  selection.  In 
such  a  state  the  law  rules,  and  not  the  executive,  not  the  legis- 
lature, not  the  magistrate.  The  American  aborigines  were  very 
many  stages  below  this  idea  of  a  state. 

From  these  various  considerations  it  may  be  seen  why  it  was 
that  the  Village  Indians  did  not  rise  to  a  supremacy  over  the 
continent  by  reducing  the  Roving  Indians  to  contracted  areas, 
occupying  their  best  positions,  and  holding  them  powerless  for 
aggression.  The  Aztecs  were  unable  to  carry  their  power  a 
hundred  miles  beyond  the  valley  of  Mexico,  either  north,  west, 
or  east.  In  warfare  they  possessed  no  advantages  over  the  bar- 
barous nations.  On  the  contrary,  there  are  reasons  for  believ- 
ing that  the  latter  were  in  general  superior  to  the  Village  Indians 
in  hardihood  and  courage,  and  in  warlike  inclinations. 


1  Acosta,  after  defining  four  grades  of  Aztec  chiefs,  observes  that  "  all  these  four  dignities  were 
of  the  geat  council,  without  whose  advice  the  king  might  not  do  anything  of  importance."  —  Nat. 
and  Mor.  Hist.  East  and  West  Indies,  p.  485. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  209 

Between  the  years  1600  and  1700  A.D.,  the  entire  area  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Mississippi,  and  from  Hudson's  bay  to  the  gulf 
of  Mexico,  had  been  sufficiently  explored  by  traders,  missionaries, 
and  colonists,  to  render  both  the  English  and  the  French  familiar 
with  the  location  and  condition  of  the  several  Indian  nations 
within  these  limits.  Some  knowledge  of  the  Dakotas  and  of  the 
Missouri  nations  had  also  been  obtained.  But  it  was  not  until 
the  eighteenth  century  that  the  same  degree  of  information  was 
acquired  of  the  nations  in  the  interior  of  the  continent  and  upon 
the  Pacific  coast.  Our  systematic  knowledge  of  the  American 
aborigines  belongs  to  the  present  century. 

Having  previously  considered  the  means  of  subsistence  of  the 
aborigines,  both  natural  and  agricultural ;  the  centres  of  Indian 
population ;  and  the  natural  highways  of  migration  suggested  by 
the  topographical  features  of  North  America ;  it  remains  to  in- 
vestigate their  migrations  for  the  purpose  of  finding,  if  possible, 
the  initial  point  or  centre  from  which,  in  successive  streams, 
these  nations  spread  abroad.  The  additional  evidence  and  the 
conclusions  must  be  sought  in  their  systems  of  consanguinity, 
languages,  mutual  relations,  and  traditions,  and  in  such  actual 
migrations  as  are  known  to  have  occurred. 

The  aboriginal  languages,  north  of  Mexico,  have  been  suffi- 
ciently studied  in  their  vocables  and  in  their  grammatical  structure 
to  enable  us  to  resolve  them  into  a  number  of  stock  languages, 
which  are  found  to  be  all  constructed  upon  the  same  plan,  and 
to  remain  in  the  same  stage  of  development.  But  investigation 
has  not  been  carried  far  enough  to  unite  them  in  a  family  of  lan- 
guages upon  strict  linguistic  principles.  Philologists,  therefore, 
have  not  claimed  for  these  nations  the  position  of  a  linguistic 
family  of  mankind,  like  the  Aryan  and  Semitic  families.  It  is 
very  material  to  the  further  progress  of  American  ethnology  that 
the  unity  of  origin  of  the  American  aborigines  should  be  estab- 
lished, if  evidence  sufficient  to  demonstrate  the  fact  can  be  dis- 
covered. Inasmuch  as  their  languages  are  now  spoken  in  a 
hundred  and  forty  dialects,  more  or  less,  it  is  not  probable  that 
these  will  ever  be  investigated  with  sufficient  minuteness,  in  their 
grammatical  structure,  to  elicit  from  this  source  the  proofs  it 
15 


210  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

might  afford.  If  more  than  one  original  speech  exists,  that  fact, 
however,  may  yet  be  ascertained  by  an  analysis  of  a  limited 
number  of  these  languages. 

Another  class  of  facts,  however,  which  may  yield  the  evidence 
desired  is  to  be  found  in  their  systems  of  consanguinity  and 
affinity.1  In  this  connection  it  will  be  sufficient  to  present  such 
general  results  of  a  comparison  of  these  systems  as  have  a  bear- 
ing upon  Indian  migrations.  The  Indian  nations,  from  the  At- 
lantic to  the  Rocky  mountains,  and  from  the  Arctic  sea  to  the 
gulf  of  Mexico,  with  the  exception  of  the  Eskimo,  have  the  same 
system.  It  is  elaborate  and  complicated  in  its  general  form  and 
its  details ;  and,  whilst  deviations  from  uniformity  occur  in  the 
systems  of  different  stocks,  the  radical  features  are,  in  the  main, 
constant.  This  identity  in  the  essential  characteristics  of  a  sys- 
tem so  remarkable  tends  to  show  that  it  must  have  been  trans- 
mitted with  the  blood  to  each  stock  from  a  common  original 
source.  It  affords  the  strongest  evidence  yet  obtained  of  the 
unity  of  origin  of  the  Indian  nations  within  the  region  we  have 
defined.  These  several  stocks,  therefore,  may  be  united  into  a 
family  of  mankind  upon  the  basis  of  their  joint  possession  of  the 
same  system  of  relationship.  The  same  system  has  also  been 
found,  with  more  or  less  distinctness,  amongst  the  nations  in  the 
valley  of  the  Columbia,  and  in  the  Hudson's-bay  territory,  and 
also  among  the  Village  Indians  of  New  Mexico  and  Central  and 
South  America.  Treating  the  stocks  first  named  as  of  one  blood, 
under  the  name  of  the  Ganowanian  family,2  such  nations  of  the 
American  aborigines  as  may  be  hereafter  found  to  possess  this 
system  in  its  essential  characteristics  may  be  admitted,  upon  the 
basis  of  this  common  institution,  into  the  same  connection.  Oc- 
casional references  to  this  system  of  relationship  will  be  made  in 
the  course  of  this  article. 

The  migrations  of  the  North  American  Indian  nations  are 
now  to  be  considered,  both  those  which  have  occurred  within 


'  This  subject,  with  the  evidence,  has  been  fully  treated  in  a  memoir  now  in  course  of  publication 
by  the  Smithsoni.-in  Institution. 

s  Oa-no-ird' -ni-an.  This  proposed  name  for  the  American  Indian  family  is  in  the  Seneca-Iroquois 
language,  from  gd-no,  an  arrow,  and  wd-d'-no  a  bow  —  family  of  the  Bow  and  Arrow,  (a,  as  a  in 
father  ;  a,  as  a  in  at ;  a,  as  a  in  ale.) 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  211 

the  historical  period,  or  a  knowledge  of  which  has  been  pre- 
served by  tradition,  and  those  which,  from  the  various  sources  of 
information  previously  indicated,  it  may  be  inferred  have  taken 
place.  The  classification  of  several  stocks  into  sub-groups  is 
founded  upon  a  comparison  of  dialects. 

I.  Algonkin  Migrations. 

A  much  larger  area  was  occupied  by  the  Algonkin  stock  than 
by  any  other  of  the  Ganowanian  family.  North  of  the  chain  of 
the  great  lakes  the  nations  of  this  lineage  were  spread  from  the 
eastern  slopes  of  the  Rocky  mountains  to  the  coast  of  Labrador. 
South  of  these  lakes,  and  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  country 
of  the  Iroquois,  they  were  found  in  possession  as  far  south  as  the 
area  between  the  Tennessee  and  the  Mississippi.  Along  the 
Atlantic  seaboard  they  were  distributed  from  the  St.  Lawrence 
to  the  northern  confines  of  South  Carolina,  occupying  the  whole 
of  New  Brunswick,  New  England,  and  Virginia,  and  portions  of 
the  intermediate  states.  They  were  thinly  scattered  throughout 
this  immense  region  ;  but  they  held  it  free  from  the  intrusion  of 
other  stocks,  with  the  exception  of  the  Winnebagoes  in  "Wiscon- 
sin, and  the  Iroquois  and  their  congeners  in  New  York  and  the 
territories  adjacent  to  New  York  on  the  north,  south,  and  west. 
They  were  subdivided  into  a  large  number  of  petty  nations,  all 
speaking  dialects  of  a  common  language,  but  living  without  unity 
of  organization,  or  political  relations,  and  without  any  knowledge 
of  the  order  of  their  separation  from  each  other.  A  comparison 
of  their  dialects  resolves  them  into  several  groups,  and  tends  to 
show  that  each  member  of  each  group  was  a  subdivision  of  an 
original  nation,  or  that  they  were  descended  from  a  common 
parent  nation. 

1.  Atlantic  Nations.1 — No  movement  was  in  progress  among 

.  Localities. 

l\'.  lcoffle8aP008b  [On  the  nortnern  shores  of  the  gulf  of  St.  Lawrence. 

3.  Micmacs Western  shores  and  rivers  of  this  gulf,  and  in  Nova  Scotia. 

4.  Etchimons River  St.  John,  and  between  it  and  the  Penobscot. 

5.  Abenakis The  Kennebec,  and  ranging  to  the  Saco. 

6.  Massachusetts. ) 

7.  Narragansetts.  }•  These  nations  extended  from  the  vicinity  of  the  Saco  to  the  Hudson  river. 

8.  Mohegans  ....) 

9.  Montaks Long  Island . 


212  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

the  Atlantic  Algonkins  at  the  epoch  of  their  discovery.  They 
were  stationary  within  certain  geographical  limits.  From  the 
relation  of  the  Eastern  Algonkin  dialects  to  the  western  no  cer- 
tain inference  can  be  drawn  as  to  which  was  original,  and  which 
derived;  but  from  the  greater  amount  of  divergence  among  the 
western  dialects,  it  is  a  reasonable  inference  that  the  western 
part  of  the  Algonkin  area  was  first  and  longest  occupied.  There 
is  also  traditionary  evidence  of  a  western  origin  of  the  Eastern 
Algonkins.  The  Mohegans,  who  inhabited  the  country  between 
the  Connecticut  and  Hudson  rivers,  had  a  well-defined  tradition, 
which  was  shared  by  some  other  New  England  nations,  that  they 
came  originally  from  the  northwest ;  but  they  were  without  any 
definite  knowledge  of  the  country  from  which  they  came.  The 
Delawares  communicated  to  Heckewelder  a  similar  tradition  of 
their  western  origin.  Such  evidence,  standing  alone,  possesses 
but  little  weight,  but,  taken  in  connection  with  corroborating 
facts,  it  is  not  without  significance.  It  is  plainly  to  be  inferred 
that  the  Iroquois  area  was  originally  Algonkin,  and  that  the 
irruption  of  the  Iroquois  into  this  area  explains  the  spread  of  the 
Algonkin  nations  southward  along  the  Atlantic  coast. 

2.  Great  Lake  Nations.  —  The  Ojibwas,  Otawas,  and  Pota- 
wattomies  were  derived  immediately  from  each  other,  or  from 
a  common  stem.1  This  fact  is  still  shown  by  the  close  relation- 
ship of  their  dialects.  In  point  of  development  the  Ojibwa  lan- 
guage stands  at  the  head  of  the  Algonkin  tongues,  unless  the 
Shawnee  or  the  Cree  may  dispute  this  preeminence.  The 
country  of  these  nations  extended  from  the  Otawa  river  to  and 
along  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Huron,  through  the  peninsula 
between  Lakes  Michigan  and  Superior,  and  thence  into  Northern 
Wisconsin.  In  the  central  area,  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior, 


11    MinsT*1"'  * i  Between  the  Hudson  and  Snsquehanna  rivers. 

12.  Nanticokes Eastern  shore  of  Chesapeake  bay. 

13.  Powhatlans Virginia. 

14.  Pampticoes North  Carolina. 

The  affiliation  of  the  four  nations  first  named  is  closest  with  the  Kenistenaux,  or  Crees,  of  whom 
the  first  two  were  probably  detached  bands. 

1  The  Missisagas  were  chiefly  of  the  Eagle  tribe  of  the  Ojibwas.    Their  range  was  north  of  the 
Georgian  bay  of  Lake  Huron. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  213 

were  the  Ojibwas,  from  which  point  they  ranged  west  to  Ontona- 
gon  along  its  south  shore,  and  upon  its  northeast  shore  to  the 
country  of  the  Crees.  Shortly  before  the  discovery  of  the  country 
the  Otawas  had  retired  westward  from  the  Otawa  river  district 
to  the  Manitoulin  islands  and  to  the  straits  of  Mackinaw,  where 
they  were  first  known  to  the  French;  and  from  this  region  they 
were  then  spreading  southward  over  Lower  Michigan,  to  the 
vicinity  of  Detroit.  The  third  nation,  the  Pottawattamies,  after 
occupying  several  localities  in  Upper  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,1 
were  then  drawing  southward,  to  the  south  end  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan, near  Chicago,  and  east  of  that  district.  At  the  time  of  their 
discovery  the  Ojibwas,  who  held  the  great  fishing  place  at  the 
Sault  Ste.  Marie,  were  advancing  westward  upon  the  "  disputed 
ground"  which  separated  their  territory  from  that  of  the  Dakotas. 
The  original  boundary  between  these  nations  was  the  Montreal 
river  and  the  Porcupine  mountains,  a  few  miles  west  of  Ontona- 
gon ;  but  the  Ojibwas  were  then  occupying  the  south  shore  of 
Lake  Superior,  as  far  west  as  Chegoimegon,  near  La  Pointe. 
Father  Allouez,  however,  met  the  Dakotas  in  1665,  at  the  head 
of  the  lake."2  At  the  time  of  their  discovery,  these  nations  were 
receding  westward.3  An  explanation  is  found  in  the  rising 
power  of  the  Iroquois  at  that  period  under  their  confederate 
organization.  They  had  forced  the  Otawas  westward  from  their 
original  seat  on  the  river  of  that  name,  and  had  attacked  the 
Ojibwas  on  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Superior. 

A  still  more  extended  region  was  occupied  by  the  Kenistenaux, 
or  Crees.     They  ranged  from  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Superior 


1  In  the  Memoir  of  M.  Du  Chesnau  on  the  Western  Indians,  written  in  1681,  they  are  mentioned 
in  territorial  connection  with  the  Sawks  and  Winnebagoes,  which  would  place  them  between  Green 
bay  and  the  Mississippi.  This  was  probably  their  country  in  1640,  when  the  Jesuit  missionaries 
first  reached  Lake  Superior  (Vide  Colonial  History  of  New  York,  ix,  161). 

a  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  m,  151 .  "  There  too,  at  the  very  extremity  of  the  lake, 
the  missionary  met  the  wild,  impassive  warriors  of  the  Sioux,  who  dwelt  at  the  west  ol  Lake 
Superior." 

*  After  the  separation  of  the  three  nations,  a  confederacy  was  formed  among  them,  which  they 
called  Na-swa'-ba-ne-  zid\  the  Three  Council-fires.  In  this  confederacy  the  Ojibwas  were  styled 
Elder  Brother,  th-.  Otawas,  Next  Older  Brother,  and  the  Pottawattamies,  Younger  Brother.  It  was 
organized  for  common  defence  against  the  Iroquois,  and  was  of  modern  date.  Sir  William  Johnson* 
in  his  enumeration  of  Indian  nations,  made  in  1736,  speaks  of  the  Otawa  confederacy,  but  includes 
under  it  other  nations  (Doc.  History  N.  Y.,  i,  26). 


214  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

to  Hudson's  bay,  and  from  Lake  Winnipeg  on  the  west  to  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Saguenay,  east  of  Quebec.  The  Montag- 
nars,  who  have  been  represented  as  holding  the  eastern  part  of 
this  area,  and  of  whom  as  a  distinct  people  but  little  is  known, 
were  probably  of  Cree  descent.  With  respect  to  the  Cree  lan- 
guage, which  is  now  spoken  in  three  slightly  different  dialects, 
it  finds  its  nearest  affinity  in  the  Ojibwa,  with  the  exception  of 
the  two  Eastern  Algonkin  dialects,  first  named  in  a  note  on  a 
previous  page.  The  principal  facts  here  ascertained  are  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  great  lake  nations  around  Lake  Superior  when 
first  discovered,  the  closeness  of  their  dialectical  connection,  and 
the  southern  movement  then  progressing  in  the  case  of  two  of 
these  nations.  There  is  a  tradition  still  preserved  among  the 
Ojibwas  that  they  came  originally  from  the  northwest.  It  is 
highly  probable  that  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior  were  the  central 
seats  of  the  Algonkin  stock,  from  its  earliest  appearance  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  continent,  and  that  emigrants  went  forth 
from  this  secondary  centre  of  population  to  occupy  the  valley  of 
the  St  Lawrence  and  the  Atlantic  coasts,  and  also  the  eastern 
banks  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  smaller  tributaries. 

3.  Mississippi  Nations. —  This  group  of  nations  occupied  the 
east  side  of  the  Mississippi,  from  the  country  of  the  Ojibwas 
southward  to  the  Ohio,  and  south  of  this  river  between  the  Ten- 
nessee and  the  Mississippi.  They  ranged  eastward  to  Lake 
Michigan  and  to  the  state  of  Indiana.  By  a  comparison  of 
dialects  they  are  resolved  into  five  sub-groups,  as  follows  :  (1.) 
The  Miamis ;  (2.)  The  Kaskaskias,  Peorias,  Weas,  and  Pianke- 
shaws,  who  appear  to  have  been  known  collectively,  at  one  time, 
as  the  Illinois ;  (3.)  The  Sawks  and  Foxes ;  (4.)  The  Menomi- 
nees ;  (5.)  The.  Shawnees.  To  these  the  Shiyans  (Cheyennes) 
and  Arapahoes,  now  of  Colorado  territory,  should  be  added,  as 
a  sixth  and  displaced  member  of  the  group. 

The  first  two  groups,  consisting  of  five  nations,  who  occupied 
the  southern  and  eastern  portion  of  the  area  just  described,  lying 
north  of  the  Ohio,  are  so  nearly  allied  in  dialect  as  to  show  that 
they  are  subdivisions  of  one  original  nation  ;  the  last  four  nations 
speaking  substantially  the  same  dialect,  while  that  of  the  first  is 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  215 

distinct  from  the  others.  These  dialects  again  resemble  the 
Ojibwa  and  Otawa  so  closely  as  to  render  it  probable,  if  not 
certain,  that  the  nations  above  named  were  derived  from  the 
two  last  named  by  subdivision  or  descent.  The  southern  move- 
ment of  the  Otawas  and  Pottawattamies,  before  mentioned,  seems 
to  have  been  made  upon  the  lines  of  migration  of  their  kindred 
who  had  preceded  them.  It  also  tends  to  confirm  the  position 
elsewhere  taken,  that  the  great  region  of  fisheries  upon  the  south 
shores  of  Lake  Superior  and  the  north  shores  of  Lakes  Michigan 
and  Huron  had  been  secondary  initial  points  of  emigration  of 
the  Algonkin  nations  to  the  south  and  east. 

In  the  central  parts  of  Wisconsin  the  Sawks  and  Foxes  were 
found  by  the  first  explorers,  and  south  of  them  the  Kikapoos. 
Their  dialects  still  resemble  each  other,  but  they  show  such  an 
amount  of  divergence  from  those  of  the  great  lake  nations  as  to 
preclude  the  supposition  of  a  direct  descent  from  them.  They 
were,  undoubtedly,  an  early  offshoot  from  the  Algonkin  stem. 
This  last  remark  is  equally  true  of  the  Menominees,  who,  when 
first  known,  occupied  the  wild-rice  regions  upon  the  Menomi- 
nee  river  in  Northern  Wisconsin,  and  the  upper  peninsula  of 
Michigan. 

Lastly,  the  Shawnees  were  the  southernmost  nation,  in  territo- 
rial position,  of  the  Central  Algonkins.  They  held  originally, 
and  before  the  period  of  colonization,  the  western  part  of  Ken- 
tucky, between  the  Mississippi  and  Tennessee  rivers.1  Their 
dialect  shows  a  great  divergence  from  all  the  dialects  of  the 
Mississippi  nations.  If  they  came  originally  from  the  great  lake 
region,  or,  which  seems  more  probable,  from  the  head-waters  of 
the  Mississippi,  their  language  indicates  a  separation  from  the 
parent  stem  at  an  early  period.  The  name  by  which  they  call 
themselves,  Sa-wan' '-wa-kee'  (in  Otawa,  0-shaf-wa-noke',  whence 
Shawnee),  signifying  southerners,  implies  a  previous  location 
farther  north.  It  seems  probable  that  they  took  this  name  in  a 
boastful  sense,  to  indicate  that  they  were  the  southernmost  of 
the  Algonkin  nations. 


1  They  removed  eastward,  first  to  North  Carolina,  as  is  supposed,  and  afterwards  to  Pennsylvania. 
They  were  a  party  to  William  Penn's  treaty,  in  1682.—  Harvey's  History  of  the  Shawnees,  p.  22. 


216  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

There  are  strong  reasons  for  classing  the  Shiyans  and  Ara- 
pahoes  with  the  Mississippi  nations,  notwithstanding  their  ter- 
ritorial displacement.  The  original  seat  of  the  former  nation 
was  upon  the  Cheyenne  river,  a  tributary-  of  the  Red  river  of 
the  north,  from  which  they  were  expelled  by  the  Dakotas.  In 
1804  they  were  found  by  Lewis  and  Clarke  west  of  the  Missouri. 
Their  nearest  congeners,  the  Arapahoes,  were  high  up  on  the 
Missouri  when  first  discovered.  The  dialects  of  these  nations, 
which  are  closely  allied,  show  an  excessive  amount  of  divergence 
from  those  of  the  great  lake  nations,  but  their  nearest  affinity  is 
with  the  Shawnee,  Kikapoo,  and  Menominee.  This  fact  renders 
it  extremely  probable  that  the  original  seat  of  all  these  nations, 
except  the  first,  second,  and  third  sub-groups,  was  upon  the 
head-waters  of  the  Mississippi,  the  area  occupied  by  the  Dakotas 
at  the  time  of  their  discovery ;  and  that  the  Dakotas  not  only 
were  intruders  into  territory  previously  Algonkin,  but  in  their 
progress  to  the  eastern  side  of  the  continent  dispossessed  this 
stock  of  the  first  and  most  important  seat  occupied  by  them. 

Whether  or  not  the  great  lake  nations  emigrated  from  the 
south  is  a  question  hardly  worth  considering.  It  must  be  as- 
sumed that  they  were  originally  non-agricultural ;  because  if 
they  had  ever  been  agriculturists,  it  would  be  difficult  to  explain 
the  migration  of  the  present  northern  nations  from  districts  where 
agriculture  was  known  into  the  northern  wilderness,  where  it  is 
impossible.  The  mound-builders  had  practiced  agriculture  north 
of  the  Ohio  before  the  advent  of  the  Algonkin  stock,  and  it  is 
not  probable  that  the  art  of  cultivation  was  afterwards  lost  in 
this  area.  On  the  other  hand,  the  territorial  and  dialectical  con- 
nections of  the  Mississippi  nations,  except  the  first,  second,  and 
third  sub-groups,  tend  to  refer  the  immediate  original  stock  from 
which  they  were  derived,  not  merely  to  a  northern  position,  but 
directly  tto  the  attractive  and  desirable  area  for  Indian  occupation 
upon  the  head- waters  of  the  Mississippi.  This  is  the  only  region 
in  the  western  part  of  the  Algonkin  area,  except  that  around  Lake 
Superior,  which  could  have  developed,  without  agriculture,  the 
population  necessary  for  the  gradual  formation  of  these  nations. 
"When  forced  out  by  increase  of  numbers,  and  finally  by  an  alien 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  217 

people,  they  would  naturally  have  sought  the  prairie  area  border- 
ing the  Mississippi,  and  a  knowledge  of  agriculture  would  have 
become  necessary  to  secure  them  a  subsistence.  Agriculture 
was  practiced  by  all  of  these  nations  when  discovered,  except  the 
Menominees  and  Arapahoes.  The  whole  period  of  time  covered 
by  the  occupation  of  the  Algonkin  stock,  and  by  their  dispersion 
over  the  areas  in  which  they  were  found,  is  not  a  long  one  in 
comparison  with  that  during  which  the  Ganowanian  family  had 
possessed  North  America.  This  is  shown  by  the  present  close 
connection  between  the  Algonkin  dialects,  the  divergences  among 
which  may  have  required  a  thousand  years,  more  or  less,  for  their 
production.  It  is  evident  that  this  stock  was  recent  upon  the 
eastern  side  of  the  continent.  From  these  and  other  considera- 
tions a  portion  of  the  Mississippi  nations  may  reasonably  be  re- 
ferred to  the  Lake  Superior  region,  and  the  remainder  to  the 
head-waters  of  the  Mississippi,  as  the  centres  from  which  they 
issued.  A  further  subdivision  occurred,  in  some  cases,  in  their 
newly  acquired  territories.1 

4.  Rocky  Mountain  Nations. —  Upon  the  eastern  slopes  of  the 
Rocky  mountains,  and  eastward  upon  the  open  prairies,  ranging 
from  the  Missouri  to  the  Saskatchewan,  dwell  the  Blackfeet,  a 
powerful  nation  of  horsemen,  who  hold  undisputed  sway  over  that 
section  of  the  continent.  Since  the  time  of  European  coloniza- 
tion, a  portion  of  the  Crees,  receding  westward,  have  possessed 
themselves  of  the  lower  half  of  the  district  on  the  Saskatchewan 
river,  where  they  now  confront  the  Blackfeet ;  thus  completing 
the  continuity  of  territorial  possession  from  the  Rocky  mountains 
to  the  Atlantic  coast.  The  Blackfoot,  spoken  in  three  closely 
connected  dialects,  belongs  to  the  Algonkin  speech,  but  it  ex- 
hibits a  large  amount  of  divergence  from  all  the  other  dialects 
of  this  stock,  as  well  as  the  presence  of  a  large  number  of  voca- 
bles from  foreign  or  indigenous  sources.  Nothing  is  known  of 
the  early  history  of  the  Blackfeet  or  their  previous  location.  Im- 


1  O-je-bic,  the  root  of  the  name  Ojibwa,  signifies  root,  trunk,  or  stem,  people,  whence  0-jib-wa  an 
Ojibwa;  O-jib-wa-ka  and  0-jib-wage  (plural),  Ojibwas.  The  etymology  of  this  term,  however, 
carries  with  it  no  special  significance,  as  it  was  a  common  practice  amongst  Indian  nations  to  call 
themselves  original,  and  often  autochthones. 


218  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

mediately  south  of  them,  at  the  present  time,  are  the  Ahahnelins 
(Gros-ventres  of  the  prairie),  who  also  speak  an  Algonkin  dialect. 
This  completes  the  summary  of  the  nations  of  Algonkin  lineage. 
From  the  foregoing  brief  statement  of  the  locations  of  the 
several  Algonkin  nations,  and  of  the  relations  of  their  dialects 
to  each  other  when  they  severally  became  known,  two  important 
facts  are  made  apparent :  first,  that  the  Algonkin  stock  still  in- 
habit the  slopes  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  over  against  the  valley  of 
the  Columbia,  thus  pointing  to  that  valley  as  the  initial  point  from 
which  they  emigrated  to  the  great  lake  region,  and  thence  to  the 
Atlantic  coasts ;  and  secondly,  that  they  were  climatically  a  north- 
ern people.  With  respect  to  the  first  statement,  it  is  sufficient,  for 
the  purposes  of  this  discussion,  to  show  that  the  Algonkins  were 
found  in  uninterrupted  possession  of  a  continuous  area  from  points 
within  a  hundred  miles  of  the  head-waters  of  the  Columbia  to 
the  Atlantic  seaboard.  If  sufficient  reason  be  found,  in  the  su- 
perabundance of  natural  subsistence  in  the  Columbia  valley,  for 
holding  that  remarkable  area  to  be  the  land  from  which  they 
originally  spread,  the  entire  course  of  their  migrations  will  stand 
revealed.  It  may  be  observed,  with  respect  to  the  second  fact, 
that  the  main  body  of  the  Algonkin  stock  was  found  around 
Lake  Superior  and  along  the  St.  Lawrence,  from  which  their 
diffusion  to  the  south  was  nearly  balanced  by  that  towards  the 
north.  The  only  feature  in  itself  peculiar,  in  the  area  occupied 
by  them,  was  its  elongation  southward  along  the  Atlantic  sea- 
coast,  which,  as  before  remarked,  seems  to  find  a  full  explanation 
in  the  intrusion  of  the  Iroquois  within  their  original  limits. 

n.  Dakotan  Migrations. 

Some  evidence,  both  with  respect  to  the  separate  migrations 
of  the  Dakotan  nations,  and  the  general  direction  of  their  ad- 
vance as  one  of  the  great  stocks  of  the  Ganowanian  family,  may 
be  derived  from  the  relations  of  the  dialects,  and  the  geographi- 
cal positions,  of  the  numerous  nations  of  this  lineage.  The  bulk 
of  these  nations  were  strictly  River  Indians,  which  gave  a  pecu- 
liar character  to  their  occupation  of  the  area  possessed  by  them. 
Since  the  rivers  traversing  the  central  prairies  had  a  narrow 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  219 

border  of  forest,  while  all  beyond  was  open  prairie  unsuitable 
for  Indian  occupation,  the  nations  of  this  stock  spread  over  great 
distances  north  and  south,  along  the  banks  of  rivers,  with- 
out any  corresponding  lateral  expansion.  Besides,  as  this  area, 
with  the  exception  of  one  district,  was  comparatively  a  poor  one, 
it  created  a  tendency  among  the  more  vigorous  and  warlike 
bands,  like  the  Iroquois  —  who  were  probably  an  early  offshoot 
of  the  Dakotan  stem  —  to  seek  new  habitations  in  distant  and 
disconnected  regions. 

1.  Dakotas.  —  The  Dakotas  proper  held  a  broad  as  well  as 
compact  area.  When  first  discovered,  they  were  established 
upon  the  head  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  in  the  present  state  of 
Minnesota,  whence  they  ranged  eastward  to  Lake  Superior  and 
westward  to  the  Missouri.  A  portion  of  them  were  permanently 
established  upon  the  latter  river.  They  are  now  subdivided  into 
twelve  great  bands,  or  embryo  nations,  and  occupy  the  plains 
between  the  Missouri  and  the  Rocky  mountains  —  forced  west- 
ward, as  other  nations  have  been,  by  the  progress  of  the  whites. 
Down  to  the  time  of  their  discovery  they  had  remained  in  such 
intimate  intercourse  with  one  another  that  their  language  had 
developed  but  two  dialects  —  the  Isauntie,  on  the  Mississippi, 
and  the  Teeton,  on  the  Missouri ;  with  a  third,  the  Yankton,  in 
the  incipient  stages  of  formation  out  of  the  first.  The  three 
forms,  however,  vary  so  slightly  as  to  be  mutually  intelligible 
with  entire  facility.  From  this  fact  it  may  be  inferred  that  the 
Dakotas  were  comparatively  recent  in  this  area,  while  the  supe- 
rior advantages  of  this  district  for  Indian  subsistence  are  demon- 
strated by  their  unusual  numbers.  When  Carver  visited  the 
Dakotas  in  1756,  they  were  divided  into  eleven  bands.1  They 
acknowledged  seven  nations  or  divisions,  as  stated  by  Riggs,2  of 
which  the  seventh,  the  Teetons,  was  subdivided  into  eight  bands. 
They  are  now  organized  into  twelve  nations,  known  as  Isaunties, 
Yanktons,  Yanktonais,  Sissetons,  Ogalallas,  Brules,  Uncpapas, 
Blackfoot  Dakotas,  Ohenonpas,  Minikanyes,  Sansarcs,  andltazip- 
cos.  Isaunties  is  a  generic  term  used  by  the  Western  Dakotas, 


> Carver's  Travels,  Phila.  ed.  1796,  p.  37. 

•  Riggs's  Dakota  Lexicon  (Smithsonian  Contributions,  rv.),  Intro.,  p.  rv. 


220  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

to  designate  their  kindred  on  the  Mississippi;  and  Teetons, 
another,  employed  by  the  latter  to  describe  the  former.  It  will 
be  seen  that  the  distinction  is  dialectical.  Dakota  in  the  Isauntie 
dialect,  Lacota  in  the  Teeton,  which  signifies  leagued  or  allied,  is 
the  name  by  which  they  call  themselves.  They  also  .speak  of 
their  confederacy  as  the  Seven  Council-fires,  from  their  seven 
political  divisions.  The  Dakotas  proper,  who  are  more  numer- 
ous than  all  of  their  recognized  congeners  united,  are  of  imme- 
diate common  descent. 

2.  Asiniboines.  —  This  nation  was  one  of  the  constituent  bands 
of  the  Dakotas,  and  became  detached  and  independent  shortly 
before  the  period  of  European  discovery.     They  moved  north- 
ward, and  became   established  upon   Rainy  lake,  and  ranged 
thence  westward  to  the  Red  river  of  the  north,  and  northward 
to  the  vicinity  of  Lake  Winnipeg.     At  the  present  time  they 
dwell  west  of  the  last  named  river,  and  range  westward  to  the 
Missouri,  and  northward  well  towards  the  Saskatchewan.1     Since 
the  separation  the  Dakotas   have   regarded  them   as   enemies. 
After  a  geographical  separation  of  more  than  two  hundred  years, 
their  dialects  are  mutually  intelligible,  with  entire  facility. 

3.  Missouri  Nations. —  The  nearest  congeners  of  the  Dakotas 
were  the  eight  nations  of  the  Lower  Missouri,  who  inhabited 
both  banks  of  this  river,  and  the  banks  of  some  of  its  tributaries, 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Punka  river  on  the  north,  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Missouri,  and  thence  southward  upon  the  west  side  of  the 
Mississippi,  to  the  Arkansas.     Their  dialects  are  distinct  from 
each  other,  but  may  be  resolved  into  three  groups  :  1st,  That  of 
the  Punkas   and   Omahas,   the    northernmost   nations,   whose 
dialects,  although  greatly  divergent,  are  more  nearly  allied  to 
each  other  than  either  is  to  any  of  those  remaining.     These 
nations  are  probably  subdivisions  of  one  original  band.     South 
of  them,  upon  the  Missouri,  and  ranging  over  Iowa,  were  the 
lowas,  Otoes,  and  Missouris,  whose  dialects  likewise  are  more 
nearly  related  to  each  other  than  to  those  remaining.     These 
nations  also  were  probably  subdivisions  of  one  original  nation. 


1  In  1862, 1  met  a  band  of  this  nation  on  the  Upper  Missouri,  below  the  mouth  of  the  Yellowstone 
river.    They  are  a  hardy  stock,  hut  inferior  to  the  DakotaB  In  character  and  personal  appearance. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  221 

South,  of  these  were  the  Kaws,  Osages,  and  Quappas,  who  were 
in  like  manner  subdivisions  of  one  nation,  as  is  shown  by  the 
relation  of  their  dialects.  The  Osages  have  a  tradition  that  they 
once  occupied  the  east  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  south,  of  the 
Ohio,  in  what  afterwards  became  the  Shawnee  area ;  and  that 
while  there  the  Quappas  separated  from  them,  and  emigrated  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas,1  where  they  were  found  by  De  Soto, 
in  1540.2  All  of  the  Missourian  nations  have  changed  their 
seats,  from  time  to  time,  within  their  modern  areas.  The  Kaws, 
when  first  known  to  explorers  (under  the  names  of  Okames  and 
Kansas),  resided  upon  the  Kansas  river  ;  but  they  were  formerly 
established,  as  one  of  their  chiefs  informed  the  writer  in  1859, 
upon  the  west  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  a  few  miles  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Missouri.  Their  village,  at  this  point,  was  called 
Ne-bla-zhe-ta'-ma,  which  signifies  the  blue  river,  and  this  was 
their  name  for  the  Mississippi ;  whilst  they  called  the  Missouri 
Ne-sho'-ja,  the  muddy  river.  These  eight  nations,  as  before 
stated,  were  probably  derived  from  three  original  nations  by  sub- 
division, and  the  three  again  from  one ;  but  the  degree  of  the 
divergence  of  their  dialects  from  each  other,  and  from  the  Dakota, 
indicates  a  long  period  of  separate  national  existence. 

4.  Winnebagoes.  —  In  intimate  connection  with  the  Missouri 
nations,  dialectically,  must  be  placed  the  Winnebagoes.  They 
were  first  known  as  Puants,  and  ranged  from  Lake  Winnebago 
to  Green  bay  in  Wisconsin.  They  were  an  early  offshoot  from 
the  Dakotan  stock,  which  advanced  eastward  into  the  forest  area ; 
and  their  progress  seems  to  have  been  arrested  by  Lake  Michi- 
gan, and  very  likely  by  the  nations  in  possession  of  the  narrow 
peninsula  between  Lakes  Michigan  and  Superior.  This  was  the 
natural  route  of  migration  to  the  St.  Lawrence  valley  from  the 
Missouri  and  Mississippi  regions. 

When  an  original  stock  subdivides,  and  the  process  is  repeated 
from  century  to  century,  it  becomes  impossible  to  ascertain 
which  was  the  parent  nation.  They  are,  in  eifect,  the  common 


1  Report  of  William  Clarke  and  Lewis  Cass  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  in  1825.    Schoolcraft'a  Hit- 
tory.  Condition,  and  Prospects  of  the  Indian  Tribes,  in,  694. 

a  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  i,  54 ;  Schoolcraft's,  in,  694. 


222  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

descendants  of  this  original  stock,  which  exists  only  in  its 
branches.  That  branch  only  from  which  a  particular  nation  is 
immediately  derived  stands  to  the  latter  in  the  relation  of  a 
parent.  While  this  would-be  true,  as  to  each  band  emigrating 
from  the  territorial  and  political  connection  of  the  mother  nation, 
the  constitution  of  Indian  society  tended  to  subdivision  as  the 
people  spread  abroad  over  larger  areas.  It  is  evident,  from  the 
relations  of  the  dialects  of  the  nations  we  are  considering,  that 
the  Missouri  nations  were  not  derived  from  the  Dakotas.  Neither 
can  the  latter,  nor  the  "Winnebagoes,  be  derived  from  either  of 
the  former ;  but  each  is  a  branch  of  a  common  stem  back  of  them 
all  in  point  of  time.  There  was  a  definite  order  of  separation, 
but  it  is  not  now  ascertainable.  The  Winnebagoes  affirm  that 
the  Missouri  nations  were  descended  from  them. 

5.  Upper  Missouri  Nations. — North  of  all  the  nations  we  have 
named  on  the  Missouri  were  the  Mandans,  who  speak  a  dialect 
of  the  Dakotan  stock  language,  and  also  the  Minnitarees,  and 
Crows  (Ab-sar'-o-kas),  whose  dialects  have  so  large  an  infusion  of 
Dakotan  vocables  that  they  are  believed  to  be  an  offshoot  of  this 
stock,  or  rather  of  common  descent  with  them.  The  Mandan 
dialect  appears  to  be  more  advanced  than  any  other  of  the  Dako- 
tan stock,  unless  the  Dakota  proper  is  the  superior.  Any  person 
familiar  with  the  articulation  of  Indian  languages  can  form  a 
very  correct  opinion  of  their  development  when  heard  from  the 
lips  of  native  speakers  in  council.  The  Mandan,  as  used  by  the 
chiefs  in  formal  addresses,  is  a  clear  sonorous  language,  with 
quantity  and  accent  strongly  defined ;  but  it  is  disfigured  with 
scraping  and  gutural  sounds.  It  could  not  have  attained  its  de- 
gree of  advancement  without  a  long  and  prosperous  national 
career.  This  dialect  is  in  closer  affiliation  with  those  of  the 
Lower  Missouri  nations  than  with  the  Dakota  proper;  at  the 
same  time,  judging  from  a  comparison  of  vocables,  it  resembles 
the  latter  more  closely  than  the  latter  does  the  Missouri  dialects, 
thus  giving  to  the  Mandans  an  intermediate  position.  The 
Minnitarees  and  Crows,  who  are  subdivisions  of  an  original  na- 
tion, seem  to  form  a  connecting  link  between  the  Dakota  and 
Missouri  nations  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  gulf  nations,  namely, 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  223 

the  Creeks,  Choctas,  Seminoles,  etc.,  on  the  other.  In  their 
dialects  they  must  be  classed  with  the  former,  hut  in  their  system 
of  consanguinity  with  the  latter.  There  is  a  concurrence,  in  one 
striking  feature,  of  their  respective  systems  of  relationship,  which 
is  found  in  their  systems  alone,  and  which  seems  to  require  a 
connection  hy  hlood  for  its  explanation.  It  has  elsewhere  been 
stated  as  probable  that  the  Minnitarees  carried  agriculture  to  the 
Upper  Missouri  and  taught  it  to  the  Mandans  and  Arickarees, 
and  that  they  were  emigrants  from  the  south.  The  remembrance 
of  this  migration  seems  still  to  be  preserved  in  their  national 
name  E-nat'-za,  signifying  the  people  who  came  from  afar. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  nations  of  Dakotan  lineage  held  a 
territory,  when  first  discovered,  substantially  continuous  through 
thirteen  parallels  of  latitude,  that  is,  from  the  Arkansas  river  to 
Rainy  lake ;  and,  in  the  upper  part  of  the  area,  of  several  hundred 
miles  in  width.  There  is  no  direct  evidence,  either  from  tradi- 
tion or  other  sources,  as  to  the  country  from  which  they  came. 
Their  subdivision  into  the  existing  nations  occurred,  presump- 
tively, after  they  became  possessed  of  this  area,  or  else  they  must 
have  followed  each  other  at  short  intervals  from  a  common  ori- 
ginal seat ;  in  either  case,  after  the  Dakotan  stock  language  had 
become  distinct.  So  much  may  be  inferred  from  the  present  re- 
lation of  its  dialects,  of  which  fifteen  have  been  enumerated,  and 
also  from  the  continuity  of  their  territorial  possessions.  The 
initial  point  from  which  they  migrated  into  this  area  was  neces- 
sarily remote  ;  for  they  held  an  isolated  position  in  the  midst  of 
the  central  prairies,  and  in  precisely  that  portion  of  North  America 
which  would  be  occupied  last  in  point  of  time  by  non-agricul- 
tural nations. 

On  the  assumption  that  the  Ganowanian  family  originated  out- 
side of  the  American  continent  and  reached  it  in  prehistoric  ages, 
there  are  no  facts  of  positive  weight  pointing  to  a  European  or 
African  source.  There  were  no  people  on  either  of  these  conti- 
nents of  the  same  or  even  similar  type,  from  whom  they  could 
have  been  derived ;  consequently  there  is  no  occasion  to  include, 
as  supposable,  an  hypothesis  of  their  spread  westward  from  the 
Atlantic  coast.  On  the  contrary,  there  are  weighty,  even  con- 


224  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

elusive  indications  that  they  commenced  their  dispersion  over 
North  America  from  the  northwest  coast.  Their  migrations, 
retraced  to  the  valley  of  the  Columbia,  seem  next  to  point  back 
to  the  Asiatic  continent,  with  which  there  are  two  possible  routes 
of  connection,  and  which  still  contains  within  its  borders  nations 
of  a  type  strikingly  similar  to  theirs.1 

"With  respect  to  the  Dakotan  stock,  the  original  home  of  their 
ancestors  must,  of  necessity,  be  referred  to  the  western  side  of 
the  continent.  There  were  but  three  routes  through  the  prairie 
area  available ;  first,  by  the  Saskatchewan,  from  the  eastern  slopes 
of  the  Rocky  mountains  to  Lake  "Winnipeg,  and  thence  south  by 
the  Red  river  of  the  north  to  the  head  of  the  Mississippi,  a  dis- 
tance of  fifteen  hundred  miles  ;  second,  by  the  Platte  river,  from 
the  same  mountains  to  the  Missouri  —  a  distance  of  about  eight 
hundred  miles,  nearly  all  the  way  through  open  prairies ;  and 
third,  by  the  Arkansas  river  to  the  Mississippi,  about  the  same 
distance,  and  through  a  similar  region.  A  migration  by  the 
Saskatchewan  or  by  the  Arkansas  is  far  less  probable  than  by 
the  Platte.  If  by  the  first,  it  would  seem  necessary  to  derive  the 
Missouri  nations  from  the  Dakotas  ;  if  by  the  second  the  reverse ; 
and  both  of  these  suppositions  present  linguistic  difficulties.  But 
if  they  reached  the  Missouri  by  way  of  the  Platte,  and  spread 
thence  northward  and  southward  along  the  former  river,  and 
eastward  to  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi,  into  the  several  areas 
in  which  they  were  found,  their  movements  would  seem  to  have 
been  more  in  accordance  with  their  present  relations.  This  sup- 
posed route  is  rendered  probable  by  other  facts.  The  Dakotan 
stock  were,  climatically,  a  northern  people,  and,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Quappas,  and,  to  a  limited  extent,  of  the  Osages  and 
lowas,  also  non-agricultural.  Had  they  reached  the  Mississippi 
as  low  down  as  the  Arkansas,  they  would  have  come  in  contact 
with  the  gulf  nations,  who  were  agricultural  in  their  habits 
when  first  discovered  by  De  Soto  in  1540 ;  and  would  themselves 
have  become  agricultural,  as  the  Quappas  did  at  a  later  period, 

1  I  have  recently  seen  a  photograph  of  a  Mongolian  woman  whose  face  and  features  resembled 
those  of  Seneca-Iroquois  females  so  closely  that  one  might  be  taken  for  the  other  if  they  stood 
side  by  side. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  225 

from  their  geographical  position.  That  the  latter  nation  was  a 
recent  arrival  upon  the  Arkansas  in  1540  is  shown  by  the  Osage 
tradition  before  referred  to.  If  the  Dakotas  had  been  acquainted 
with  the  art  of  cultivating  the  ground,  and  afterwards  migrated 
to  their  northern  location,  they  would  probably  not  have  aban- 
doned the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  it.  There  is  another 

o 

class  of  facts  bearing  upon  this  question.  At  the  time  Marquette 
descended  the  Mississippi,  in  1673,  a  portion  of  the  Mississippi 
Algonkins  resided  on  its  we*st  side,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Des 
Moines  river  in  Iowa,  whence  they  were  afterwards  expelled. 
The  Kithigami,  an  Algonkin  people,  are  located  on  Marquette's 
map  upon  the  west  side  of  this  river,  from  which  they  afterwards 
retired.1  Whether  this  occupation  was  an  encroachment  upon 
areas  previously  Dakotan,  or  indicates  that  this  region  was  then 
a  part  of  the  Algonkin  domain,  cannot  be  determined  with  cer- 
tainty. It  seems  most  probable  that  the  latter  was  the  case,  and 
that  the  Dakotan  stock  wrested  this  area,  as  well  as  their  princi- 
pal seat  in  Minnesota,  from  the  Algonkins.  When  the  Dakotas 
were-  discovered,  in  1665,  they  were  attempting  to  gain  a  foot- 
hold in  the  forest  area  on  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Superior  ;  and 
the  Winnebagoes,  as  elsewhere  stated,  had  penetrated  the  Algon- 
kin area  as  far  eastward  as  Lake  Michigan,  and  were  then  sur- 
rounded by  Algonkin  nations. 

There  is  still  another  significant  fact,  in  the  name  of  the 
Shiyans,  and  of  the  river  upon  which  they  dwelt.  They  were 
formerly  established  in  Dakota  territory  on  the  great  bend  of 
the  Cheyenne  river,  a  tributary  of  the  Red  river  of  the  north, 
from  which  they  were  expelled  by  the  Dakotas.  Their  name 
was  bestowed  on  them  by  the  latter,  who  called  them  Shi-ya, 
people  of  an  unintelligible  tongue.  They  also  called  the  'river 
Shi-ya  wo-zu-pe,  the  last  word  signifying  plantation  or  garden. 
Since  the  Shiyans  are  of  Algonkin  lineage,  if  the  Dakotas  had 
emigrated  from  the  north  or  east,  the  Shiyan  language  would  not 
have  been  new  to  them,  and  much  less  so  strange  as  to  have 
elicited  such  a  name ;  and  if  from  the  south,  planting  or  garden 


1  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  m,  160. 

16 


226  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

beds  would  not  have  been  such  a  novelty  as  to  have  found  ex- 
pression in  this  way.  On  the  contrary,  from  well-known  Indian 
idiosyncrasies  in  bestowing  names,  had  the  Dakotas,  advancing 
eastward  from  Nebraska  toward  the  Mississippi,  heard  for  the 
first  time  the  Algonkin  speech  from  the  Shiyans,  arid  on  their 
river  witnessed  for  the  first  time  the  cultivation  of  the  earth, 
these  names,  or  something  equivalent  —  it  might  have  been  pre- 
dicted—  would  be  applied  to  them. 

It  seems  therefore  extremely  probable  that  the  Dakotan  stock 
commenced  the  occupation  of  their  modern  area  at  some  point 
on  the  Missouri  as  high  up  as  the  mouth  of  the  Platte,  from 
which  they  advanced  northwaid,  southward,  and  eastward,  and 
subdivided  into  independent  nations,  as  they  increased  in  numbers 
and  dwelt  apart  from  each  other.  With  this  conclusion  estab- 
lished, a  prior  migration  from  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Rocky 
mountains,  by  way  of  the  Platte  river  and  the  Black  hills  of  Ne- 
braska, becomes  a  necessary  inference,  although  the  safe  transit 
of  a  band  of  Indians  by  this  or  any  route  through  the  prairies 
must  have  been  a  happy  accident.  The  next  preceding  move- 
ment connects  them  with  the  valley  of  the  Columbia.  This 
general  conclusion  will  be  materially  strengthened  by  the  facts 
bearing  upon  the  migrations  of  the  remaining  stocks. 

6.  Hodenosaunian  Nations. —  This  group  consists  of  the  five 
Iroquois  nations  (Senecas,  Cayugas,  Onondagas,  Oneidas,  and 
Mohawks),  the  Hurons,  or  Wyandotes,  Eries,  Neutral  nation, 
Susquehannocks,  Nottowas,  and  Tuscaroras. 

The  earlier  home  of  the  Iroquois,  before  they  occupied  New 
York,  was  upon  the  north  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  Montreal.1  Their  last  migration,  of  which  they  have  a  clear 
tradition,  was  from  that  district  into  the  lake  region  of  Central 
New  York,  where  they  had  been  established  for  at  least  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  when  first  discovered,  in  1608.  The  Hurons  re- 
mained in  Canada,  and  were  found  on  the  Georgian  bay  of  Lake 
Huron,  around  Lake  Simcoe,  and  ranging  southward  toward 
Lake  Erie.  The  Wyandotes,  now  of  Kansas,  are  the  remains  of 


1  League  of  the  Iroquois,  p.  5. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  227 

the  ancient  Hurons.  Upon  both  banks  of  the  Niagara  river,  and 
ranging  westward  along  the  northeast  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  was 
the  Neutral  nation,  probably  a  subdivision  of  the  Hurons.  On 
the  southeast  shore  of  Lake  Erie  were  the  Gakwas,  or  Eries,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  a  subdivision  of  the  Senecas.  Both  the  Neu- 
tral nation  and  the  Eries  were  defeated  and  expelled  by  the 
Iroquois  about  1650-1655,  and  are  now  extinct.  The  Susque- 
hannocks  lived  on  the  banks  of  the  lower  Susquehanna,  in  Penn- 
sylvania, and  the  Nottowas  on  the  river  of  the  same  name  in 
Virginia.  These  nations  are  also  extinct.  Upon  the  Neuse 
river,  in  North  Carolina,  were  the  Tuscaroras,  who,  upon  their 
expulsion,  in  1712,  moved  northward  to  the  country  of  the  Iro- 
quois, and  were  admitted  as  a  sixth  nation  into  the  Iroquois  con- 
federacy. Of  the  dialects  of  these  nations  the  Tuscarorawas  the 
most  divergent,  but  they  were  all  closely  affiliated. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  these  nations  are  classed  as  a  sixth  branch 
of  the  Dakotan  stock.  There  are  strong  reasons  for  assigning  to 
them  this  position.  Notwithstanding  the  general  conclusion  that 
the  Hodenosaunian  speech  is  a  distinct  stock  language,  a  com- 
parison of  its  several  dialects  with  those  of  the  Dakotan  nations 
shows  that  if  the  words  do  not  reach  the  point  of  clear  identifi- 
cation, they  have,  nevertheless,  a  strong  family  likeness  so  plainly 
marked  as  to  arrest  attention,  whilst  corresponding  words  from 
Algonkin  dialects  are  in  striking  contrast.  Their  respective 
systems  of  relationship  are  more  nearly  identical  in  minute  de- 
tails than  those  which  belong  to  independent  stocks.  Among 
the  Wyandotes  there  is  a  tradition  that  the  Dakotas  were  derived 
from  them,  which  is  equivalent  to  a  tradition  of  common  descent.1 
They  still  recognize  each  other  as  brothers,  which  is  a  recognition 
of  blood  relationship  when  applied  by  one  Indian  nation  to 
another.2  There  is  some  evidence  to  the  same  effect  in  the  com- 


1  This  tradition  was  communicated  to  the  writer  in  1859,  at  the  Wyandote  reservation  in  Kansas, 
by  Matthew  Walker,  an  educated  half-blood  Wyandote,  who  had  lived  among  the  Dakotas.  He 
accepted  the  tradition  as  true.  The  war-dance  of  the  Iroquois  was  obtained  by  them  of  the  Dakotas, 
and  is  still  called  the  Dakota  dance.  Wd-sd-sa-o-no  is  their  name  for  the  Dakotas,  and  Wd-sd-sa,  for 
the  war-dance. 

1  An  investigation  of  the  terms  by  which  Indian  nations  address  each  other  would  lead  to  valuable 
historical  results.  They  generally  use  these  terms  in  such  a  way  as  not  only  to  imply  blood  rela- 
tionship, but  also  relative  equality,  inferiority,  or  superiority  in  age  as  nations.  Thus  the  Dakotaa 


228  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

mon  name  applied  by  the  Algonkin  nations  to  the  Iroquois  and 
to  the  Dakotas.  It  gains  importance  from  the  fact  that  the  Al- 
gonkin and  Dakotan  nations  have  confronted  each  other  during 
the  centuries  of  their  occupation  of  conterminous  areas,  and  have 
been  mutual  witnesses  of  each  other's  subdivision  and  changes 
of  location.  The  Great  Lake  nations  call  the  Iroquois  Na-do- 
wage'j  which  signifies  marauders.  It  has  a  primary  meaning  equi- 
valent to  enemy,  but  it  was  applied  to  the  Iroquois,  as  a  specific 
national  name,  by  the  Algonkin  nations.  It  was  also  their  name 
for  the  Hurons,  although  the  latter,  while  residing  upon  Lake 
Huron,  were  in  alliance  with  the  Ojibwas  and  Otawas,  and  made 
common  cause  with  them  against  the  Iroquois.  It  is  still  applied 
to  the  Wyandotes.  Moreover  the  name  Nottowas,  given  to  a 
small  nation  of  the  same  lineage,  in  Virginia,  who  called  them- 
selves Che-ro-haf-ka,  confirms  the  view  that  this  term  was  a  generic 
one  among  the  Algonkins  for  this  particular  stock.  In  the  next 
place,  the  French  first  learned  of  the  existence  and  name  of  the 
Dakotas  proper  through  the  Otawas  and  Ojibwas,  and  from 
French  sources  came  the  name  Nadoiiessi,  or  Naudoueseioux, 
whence  probably  the  name  Sioux,  by  which  the  Dakotas  were 
first  known.  To  the  early  English  explorers  the  same  name  was 
given,  and  written  Naudowissies.  It  is  evident  that  the  Ojibwa 
Nd'-do-wa  was  the  root  of  both  terms.1  Whilst  the  strength  of 
the  argument  in  favor  of  a  direct  blood  relationship  between  the 
Iroquois  and  Dakotas,  from  the  application  of  this  term  to  both, 
is  weakened  by  its  etymological  signification,  it  is  not  overthrown. 

and  Wyandotes  call  each  other  brothers  thereby  admitting  equality  as  well  as  kin.  The  Missouri 
nations  call  the  Winnehagoes  uncles,  by  which  they  recognize  a  common  descent,  and  admit  that  the 
Winnebagoes  are  an  older  branch  of  the  same  stem.  The  Great  Lake  nations  call  the  Shawnees  uncles, 
thus  acknowledging  their  superior  rank  as  well  as  greater  age.  It  seems  to  imply  that  the  former 
separated  from  the  main  stock,  possibly  in  Minnesota,  when  they  took  up  their  residence  at  the 
foot  of  Lake  Superior.  Most  of  the  Algonkin  nations  call  the  Delawares  c/randfatliers,  thus  recog- 
nizing their  greater  age  as  a  nation,  and  implying  descent  from  them  as  the  mother  nation.  On  the 
contrary,  the  Iroquois  called  the  Delawnres  nephews,  although  belonging  to  a  different  linguistic 
stock.  It  was  used  in  this  case  to  express  inferiority  and  the  fact  of  their  subjugation.  The  Mo- 
hawks, Onondagas,  and  the  Senecas  called  each  other  brothers,  and  called  Oneidae.  Cayugas,  and 
Tuscaroras  sons ;  while  the  last  three  called  each  other  brothers,  and  called  the  first  three  fathers. 

1  Now,  there  is  a  slight  difference  made  in  the  two  terms.  In  Ojibwn,  nd-dink  signifies  the  act  of 
getting;  na-ya  do-wa,  one  who  comes  stealthily  and  takes;  whence  Na-do-iva,  an  Iroqnois  —  a 
marauder;  Nd-ko-wage  (plural),  Iroquois;  Na-do-wa-see,  a  Dakota;  Na-do-wa-see-wug  (plural), 
Dakotas. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  229 

The  force  of  the  term  is  not  exhausted  hy  the  fact  that  these 
nations,  as  aliens  in  speech,  were,  for  that  reason,  both  enemies 
of  the  Algonkin  stock.  These  great  branches  of  the  Ganowa- 
nian  family  had  long  confronted  each  other,  and  it  seems  a  rea- 
sonable supposition  that  a  name  applied  originally  to  the  Dakotan 
stock  would  be  continued  to  each  of  its  subdivisions  as  they 
occurred,  thus  preserving  a  knowledge  of  their  blood  connection. 
From  what  quarter  the  Hodenosaunian  nations  entered  the 
Algonkin  areas,  there  is  neither  positive  knowledge  nor  tradition. 
It  seems  at  least  probable  that  they  were  an  advanced  band  or 
offshoot  of  the  Dakotan  stem,  who  worked  their  way  through  the 
narrow  peninsula  separating  Lakes  Michigan  and  Superior,  and 
thence  to  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  where  their  traditional 
history  commences.  It  seems  also  not  unlikely  that  the  "Winne- 
bagoes  were  following  on  the  same  general  line,  and  striving  to 
enter  the  forest  area,  when  their  further  progress  eastward  was 
arrested  by  the  superior  power  of  the  nations  which  held  this 
peninsula.  Both  migrations  antedate,  probably,  the  occupation 
of  Minnesota  by  the  Dakotas.  The  aborigines  progressed  slowly 
in  these  movements,  living  upon  the  territory  they  inhabited, 
and,  if  this  was  poor  and  unfavorable,  constantly  striving  for  the 
possession  of  a  better  area.  Centuries  might  elapse  before  a 
Missouri  nation,  moving  eastward,  would  have  become  established 
on  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi,  which  formed  a  great  natural 
barrier  j  and  still  other  centuries,  with  many  changes  of  location, 
before  the  same  nation  would  reach  the  valley  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence. The  valley  of  the  Ohio,  and  particularly  the  region 
between  that  river  and  Lake  Erie,  so  poorly  supplied  with  fish, 
seems  to  have  been  avoided  by  the  Roving  Indians.  Not  until 
after  European  colonization  had  commenced  did  the  Iroquois 
extend  their  occupation  over  this  area,  as  far  west  as  Indiana, 
although  agricultural  in  their  habits.  Migrations  eastward  over 
the  territory  between  the  Ohio  and  Lake  Erie  were  therefore 
extremely  improbable. 

III.  Migrations  of  the  Gulf  Nations. 

Philologists  have  recognized  five  stock  languages  among  the 
nations  inhabiting  the  regions,  east  of  the  Mississippi,  between 


230  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

the  Ohio  and  Neuse  rivers  —  which  may  serve  for  the  northern 
boundary  —  and  the  gulf  of  Mexico.  These  are  the  Catawba, 
the  batches,  the  Uche,  the  Creek,  and  the  Cherokee. 

Of  the  Catawba,  there  is  but  one  vocabulary  published,  and 
that  a  scanty  one.  Of  the  existence  of  anything  beyond  this 
the  writer  is  not  aware.  The  conclusion  that  it  is  a  distinct 
stock  is,  therefore,  a  negative  one.  A  comparison  of  this  vo- 
cabulary—  which  is  found  in  the  Mithridates,  and  also  in  Galla. 
tin's  collection  —  with  those  of  the  Dakotan  dialects  discloses 
strong  similarities,  rising  in  some  words  to  the  point  of  identity. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  it  will  ultimately  be  found  to  be  a  dia- 
lect of  that  stock  language. 

Neither  the  Uche  nor  the  batches  language  has  been  investi- 
gated sufficiently  to  demonstrate  its  independent  position.  The 
Uches,  and  the  remains  of  the  Natches  who  survived  their  over- 
throw by  the  French,  became  afterwards,  and  are  now,  constitu- 
ent members  of  the  Creek  confederacy.  This  fact  alone  tends 
to  prove  a  remote  connection  by  blood  with  the  Creeks,  although 
it  is  not  conclusive. 

The  dialects  of  the  Creek  language  are  the  Muscoke,  or  Creek 
proper,  the  Seminole,  the  Alabama,  the  Chocta,  and  the  Chick- 
asa.  The  last  two  are  subdivisions  of  one  nation,  and  the  Semi- 
noles  are  an  offshoot  from  the  Creeks,  of  no  ancient  date. 

The  Cherokee,  which  is  spoken  in  two  dialects,  and  has  been 
thoroughly  investigated,  has  some  affinity  with  the  Creek,  and 
also  with  the  Iroquois,  but  it  still  holds  the  position  of  an  inde- 
pendent stock  language.  Concerning  the  migrations  of  these 
nations,  and  of  the  small  bands  west  of  the  Mississippi,  along  the 
northern  shores  of  the  gulf,  no  knowledge  is  preserved.  It  is 
only  by  ascertaining  their  connection  with  nations  whose  migra- 
tions are  traceable,  that  this  knowledge  can  be  recovered.  We 
can  only  say  that  such  of  them  as  possess,  in  reality,  independent 
languages,  are  presumptively  the  earliest  occupiers  of  the  country 
east  of  the  Mississippi. 

IV.  Migrations  of  the  Prairie  Nations. 
The  Pawnees  and  Arickarees  speak  closely  allied  dialects,  and 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  231 

are  subdivisions  of  an  original  nation.  When  first  known,  the 
former  nation  occupied  in  four  divisions  the  upper  waters  of  the 
Kansas,  and  ranged  from  there  to  the  Platte  river.  They  were 
numerous  and  powerful  for  an  Indian  nation.  After  their  sepa- 
ration, the  Arickarees  emigrated  to  the  Upper  Missouri,  near  the 
Mandans,  where  they  became  agricultural,  and  stationary  in 
villages.  Neither  they  nor  the  Pawnees  ever  lived  east  of  the 
Missouri. 

The  only  known  congeners  of  the  Pawnees  and  Arickarees  are 
the  Huecos,  Witchitas,  Keechies,  and  Towaches  of  the  Canadian 
river,  and  of  the  Red  river  of  Arkansas.  They  speak  dialects  ot 
the  same  stock  language.  All  these  nations  have  been  Prairie 
Indians  since  they  were  first  known  to  the  whites,  and  they  have 
been  able  to  occupy  the  prairies  —  subsisting  upon  the  buffalo  — 
through  the  possession  of  horses.  This  branch  of  the  Ganowa- 
nian  family  is  thus  referred  by  its  known  past  history  to  the 
Rocky  mountain  chain,  near  the  head-waters  of  the  Arkansas 
river,  along  which,  in  all  probability,  they  traversed  the  prairies 
into  their  modern  areas.  The  line  of  their  migration,  which  was 
undoubtedly  subsequent  both  to  the  Algonkin  and  Dakotan, 
points  to  the  valley  of  the  Columbia  as  its  starting-point. 

Y.  Shoshonee  Migrations. 

The  nations  speaking  dialects  of  the  Shoshonee  stock-language 
are  the  Shoshonees,  or  Snake  Indians,  in  subdivisions,  who  now 
inhabit  Lewis's  fork  of  the  Columbia  river,  and  range  southward 
to  the  Humboldt  river,  and  eastward  to  the  Wind-river  mountains; 
the  Utes  in  several  subdivisions,  who  inhabit  the  territory  of 
Utah,  from  the  region  of  Great-salt  lake  south-ward  to  New 
Mexico,  and  the  west  side  of  the  Colorado  as  far  south  as  Arizona; 
the  Comanches  of  Texas ;  and  the  Cawios,  Netelas,  and  other 
small  bands  in  the  peninsula  of  Lower  California.  In  this  stock 
of  the  Ganowanian  family,  the  Shoshonees  and  Comanches  are 
the  most  conspicuous  in  number,  influence,  and  character.  The 
former,  since  their  discovery,  have  held  the  same  area  substan- 
tially, although  a  portion  of  them,  according  to  a  tradition  of  the 
Crow  Indians,  occupied,  several  centuries  ago,  the  head  waters 
of  the  Yellow-stone  river,  from  which  the  Crows  displaced  them. 


282  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

The  Comanches,  called  at  different  times  Paducas  and  Hietans, 
have  been  known  from  an  early  period.  It  is  within  a  century, 
however,  that  they  have  come  into  prominence.  Mountaineers 
originally,  they  became  Prairie  Indians  through  possession  of  the 
horse,  and  have  far  outstripped  all  of  their  congeners  in  number 
and  intelligence.  At  the  time  of  Coronado's  expedition  to  New 
Mexico,  in  1540,  if  they  were  met  with  at  all  by  those  adventur- 
ers, which  is  not  certain,  they  were  a  feeble  and  inconsiderable 
nation.  When  first  known  to  Americans  they  ranged  northward 
to  the  Arkansas,  and  beyond  into  Kansas,  and  southward  through 
the  western  part  of  Texas,  well  towards  the  gulf  of  Mexico. 

In  some  respects  the  Shoshonee  migration  is  more  significant 
than  that  of  any  other  stock  of  the  Ganowanian  family.  Its 
course  is  still  manifest,  as  well  as  the  precise  region  in  which  it 
took  its  rise.  The  greater  part  of  the  area  overspread  is  still  held 
by  nations  of  the  Shoshonee  speech.  It  extends  from  the  prin- 
cipal branch  of  the  Columbia  southward,  to  the  Colorado,  where 
it  divides  into  two  streams  :  one,  turning  southeasterly,  and  mi- 
grating apparently  by  way  of  the  Arkansas,  reached  Texas ;  while 
the  other,  keeping  west  of  the  Colorado,  flowed  southwesterly, 
until  its  most  advanced  bands  penetrated  Lower  California  —  the 
two  extremes  being  a  thousand  miles  apart  from  east  to  west. 
There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  initial  point  of  this  migra- 
tion was  in  the  valley  of  the  Columbia,  where  a  greater  abundance 
of  the  means  of  subsistence  than  was  to  be  found  in  other  areas 
favored  a  rapid  increase  of  numbers  ;  this  surplus  population 
being  constantly  forced  outward  by  subdivisions  resulting  from 
the  nature  of  their  institutions.  This  statement  will  serve  to 
illustrate  the  manner  in  which  Indian  migrations  probably  pro- 
ceeded. The  people,  flowing  out  from  a  permanent  centre  of 
population,  spread,  slowly  and  step  by  step,  over  a  continuous 
area  which  they  strove  to  hold,  and  did  retain  until  they  were 
displaced  by  other  emigrants.  After  portions  of  a  particular 
stock  had  become  separated  by  intervening  and  hostile  nations, 
there  was  a  strong  tendency  in  the  separated  parts  to  reunite,  by 
abandoning  one  of  the  areas  and  removing  to  the  other.  Thus 
their  territorial  positions  were  constantly  shifting.  A  common 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  233 

language  was  the  bond  of  peace  and  the  means  of  confederation 
for  mutual  protection ;  whilst  differences  of  language  in  nations 
confronting  each  other  were  the  prolific  source  of  interminable 
warfare.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  successive  stocks  had  occupied 
the  Dakotan  and  Algonkin  areas  before  the  appearance  of  the 
latter  on  the  Missouri  and  the  great  lakes,  and  that  many  nations 
perished  or  were  absorbed  in  the  struggles  of  Indian  nations  with 
each  other  for  the  possession  of  particular  areas.  The  Shoshonee 
migration  was  going  on  at  the  time  of  European  discovery,  and 
was  consummated  within  the  historical  period  by  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Shoshonee  nation  in  the  present  territory  of  Idaho, 
and  of  the  Comanche  power  in  Western  Texas.  Their  posses- 
sions were  still  substantially  continuous  and  unbroken,  and 
stretched  back  to  the  valley  from  which  the  stream  had  flowed. 
It  was  in  the  order  of  time  the  last  stock  language  which,  having 
become  distinct  in  the  valley  of  the  Columbia,  flowed  out  from 
that  fruitful  nursery  of  tongues,  and  took  its  place  in  the  G-ano- 
wanian  family  of  languages  in  distant  parts  of  the  continent  — 
a  language  certainly  the  most  opulent,  in  the  number  of  its 
dialects,  ever  developed  by  any  portion  of  the  human  family. 

Four  definite  streams  —  the  Algonkin,  the  Dakotan,  the  Paw- 
nee, and  the  Shoshonee  —  have  now  been  considered,  all  of 
which  seem  to  proceed  from  the  valley  of  the  Columbia  as  their 
original  source.  In  point  of  time  the  Algonkins  apparently  held 
the  advance  in  the  eastern  movement,  and  were  thus  able  to 
follow  the  isothermal  line,  by  way  of  the  Saskatchewan,  to  the 
great  lake  region,  and  thence  to  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence ; 
while  the  Dakotas,  striving  to  move  in  the  same  general  direction, 
took  a  more  southern  route,  by  way  of  the  Platte  ;  and  the  Paw- 
nees and  Shoshonees,  moving  still  later,  followed  a  route  still 
farther  south.  This,  at  least,  seems  to  be  the  most  probable 
solution  of  the  order  and  course  of  these  migrations. 

VI.  Athapasco-Apache  Migrations. 

The  Athapascans,  who  inhabit  the  Hudson's-bay  territory, 
and  the  Apaches  and  Navajoes  of  E"ew  Mexico,  speak  dialects  of 
the  same  stock  language.  Their  migrations  present  the  remarka- 


234  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

ble  spectacle  of  a  stock  dividing  in  some  central  area,  one  branch 
moving  northward  and  becoming  established  in  a  nearly  arctic 
climate,  and  the  other  moving  southward  into  a  semi-tropical 
region ;  and  illustrate  the  truth  that  the  habitat  of  man  is  co- 
extensive with  the  earth  ;  his  superior  and  flexible  organization 
enabling  him  to  become  arctic  or  tropical  in  his  habits,  as  cir- 
cumstances may  direct  his  migrations. 

"We  are  indebted  to  the  late  Professor  "W.  W.  Turner  for  the 
identification  of  the  two  great  branches  of  this  stock.  The  evi- 
dence, which  is  derived  from  a  comparison  of  vocables,  clearly 
establishes  the  fact.1  The  northern  branch  consists  of  the  Cheppe- 
yans,  Hares,  Dog-Ribs,  Beavers,  Red-Knives,  Acheotennes, 
Kuchin  (Koo-tchin'),  Mountaineers,  and  some  other  bands,  east 
of  the  Rocky  mountains ;  and  the  Tacullies,  Urnkwas,  and 
Hoopahs,  west  of  those  mountains  ;  as  well  as  several  small 
nations  in  Alaska.  The  southern  branch  is  formed  by  the 
Apaches  in  several  subdivisions  or  embryo  nations  (Lipans, 
Miscaleros,  Jicarillos,  Coyoteros,  and  some  other  bands),  who 
occupy  an  extensive  district  of  country,  from  the  ranges  of  the 
Comanches  on  the  east  nearly  to  the  gulf  of  California  on  the 
west  —  including  the  northern  parts  of  the  Mexican  states  of 
Chihuahua  and  Sonora,  and  the  parts  of  $"ew  Mexico  not  occu- 
pied by  the  Village  Indians.  In  the  northern  part  of  the  latter 
territory  are  the  J^avijoes  and  Pinols,  who  belong  to  the  Apache 
stock.1  The  Apaches  did  not  come  into  notice  until  after  they 
obtained  the  horse,  which  has  raised  many  Indian  nations  from 
obscurity.  They  were  mentioned  by  Father  Kino  in  1694.  At 
the  time  of  Coronado's  expedition,  before  referred  to,  they  were 
probably  in  possession  of  some  part  of  these  regions  as  wild 
bands.2 

In  the  migrations  of  this  stock  a  fifth  stream  is  recognized  — 
earlier  in  point  of  time  than  the  Shoshonee,  and  probably  later 


'  Explorations  for  a  Railroad  Route,  etc.,  to  the  Pacific,  vol.  m,  Report  on  Indian  tribes,  page  84. 

1  Gregg's  Commerce  of  the  Prairies,  i,  285. 

4  For  a  Spanish  account  of  the  Apaches  in  1799,  vide  report>f  Don  Jose  Cortez  (Explorations  for 
a  Kailroad  JKoute,  in,  119).  Cf. ,  also,  report  of  M .  Steck  (President's  Message  and  Documents,  1869, 
i,  712) ;  and  report  of  E.  A.  Graves  (Ibid.,  1854,  1855,  i,  385). 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  235 

than  the  Algonkin  —  which  divided  at  some  point  between  the 
two  extremes  in  which  they  were  found,  and  moved  in  opposite 
directions.  The  only  intermediate  region  to  which  they  can  he 
referred  as  the  place  of  their  origin  is  the  valley  of  the  Columbia. 
It  is  a  further  and  important  confirmation  of  the  superior  claims 
of  this  valley,  over  the  remainder  of  the  continent,  to  he  regarded 
as  the  nursery  of  the  Ganowanian  family. 

VII. —  Migrations  of  the  Village  Indians. 

1.  The  Village  Indians  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona. —  Without 
a  doubt,  the  valleys  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona  have  been  the 
seats  of  the  Village  Indians  from  a  very  ancient  date.  This  view 
is  sustained  by  the  number  and  position  of  the  present  pueblos, 
by  the  ruins  of  deserted  pueblos  surrounded  with  traces  of  culti- 
vation, and  by  the  number  of  stock  languages  still  spoken  in 
these  limited  areas.  There  are  some  reasons,  derived  from  the 
number  and  extent  of  the  pueblos  in  ruins  in  New  Mexico  and 
on  the  San  Juan,  and  on  its  northern  tributaries  in  the  southern 
part  of  Utah,  for  supposing  that  Village  Indian  life  in  this  region 
was  in  a  state  of  decadence  at  the  time  of  its  discovery.  It  seems 
probable  that  the  more  northern  Village  Indians  had  been  over- 
powered and  forced  southward  by  the  roving  nations.  For  up- 
wards of  three  centuries  the  Pueblo  Indians,  as  they  are  called, 
have  been  known  to  us,  and  have  remained  substantially  in  the 
same  condition  ;  but  of  their  previous  history  and  movements 
there  exists  no  knowledge.  No  connection  has  as  yet  been  dis- 
covered between  their  languages  and  those  of  the  northern  or 
southern  Indians.  Their  village  life  probably  commenced  with 
the  introduction  of  agriculture  into  this  region.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  assume  that  they  migrated  from  the  south  and  carried 
agriculture  with  them,  in  order  to  explain  its  presence  in  New 
Mexico,  any  more  than  it  is,  to  infer  that  the  Shiyans  and  Hu- 
rons  emigrated  from  the  gulf  region  into  the  Dakota  territory 
and  Canada,  to  explain  their  knowledge  of  agriculture.  'In  many 
ways  the  art  of  cultivating  the  ground  would  spread  from  place 
to  place  by  the  mere  accidents  of  aborginal  life,  as  well  as  through 
deliberate  efforts  made  for  its  acquisition.  It  would  be  a  fatal 


236  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

error  to  adopt  the  track  of  agriculture  as  the  line  of  original  mi- 
gration. Indian  agriculture  must  have  originated  in  a  tropical 
climate,  from  the  nature  of  the  cereal  upon  which  it  rested,  and 
long  after  both  North  and  South  America  had  become  peopled 
with  roving  Indians.  No  supposition  of  the  dispersion  of  the 
aborigines  from  a  centre  within  the  tropics  is  necessary.  WEilst 
agricultural  nations  would  be  certain  to  carry  cultivation  wherever 
they  migrated,  the  tendency  of  its  practice  was,  to  localize  a 
people  and  arrest  changes  of  dwelling,  except  within  short  dis- 
tances. Agriculture  was  quite  as  likely  to  be  propagated  back- 
ward on  the  line  of  migration  as  forward. 

The  Village  Indians  of  the  lower  Colorado,  who  speak  the 
Pima  and  Yuma  stock  languages,  are  cultivators  of  the  ground, 
but  not  house-builders  either  in  adobe  brick  or  stone.  They 
still  use  the  round-roofed  wigwam,  constructed  of  rude  materials, 
but  large  enough  for  several  families.  From  this  fact  it  may  be 
inferred,  notwithstanding  the  evidence  of  their  long-continued 
village  habit»,  that  their  transformation  from  a  non-agricul- 
tural to  an  agricultural  life  occurred  within  their  present 
areas,  and  more  recently  than  that  of  the  other  Village 
Indians  of  New  Mexico.  For  their  ancestors,  it  is  not  neces- 
sary to  look  beyond  the  Northern  Roving  Indians.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  the  more  advanced  class  of  Village  Indians 
were  equally  slow  in  attaining  their  knowledge  of  architecture, 
and  that  centuries  elapsed,  after  they  became  agricultural, 
before  they  learned  or  invented  the  art  of  constructing  houses 
with  adobe  brick  and  stone.  The  evidence  is  decisive,  of  a  very 
great  antiquity  of  Village  Indian  life  in  New  Mexico  ;  but  the 
probability  is  strong  that  the  ancestors  of  all  these  nations  were 
immigrants  from  the  valley  of  the  Columbia. 

2.  The  Village  Indians  of  Mexico  and  Central  America.  —  In  both 
of  these  areas  the  evidence  of  occupation  from  a  very  ancient 
date  is  equally  decisive  from  architectural  remains  and  from  the 
number  of  stock  languages.  It  is  not  probable  that  the  number 
of  these  languages  could  be  reduced  below  eight  or  ten,  if  the 
materials  for  comparison  were  ample.  There  are  supposed  to 
be  eighteen.  "  We  can  safely  affirm,"  says  Clavigero,  "  that 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  237 

there  are  no  living  or  dead  languages  which  can  differ  more 
among  each  other  than  the  languages  of  the  Mexicans,  Otomies, 
Tarascas,  Mayas,  and  Miztecas  —  five  languages  prevailing  in 
different  provinces  of  Mexico."1  Such  a  result  might  have  been 
expected  from  the  number  of  inhabited  localities  and  of  inde- 
pendent nations.  Moreover,  the  higher  development  of  archi- 
tecture and  of  stone  sculptures  in  Chiapa  and  Yucatan  affords 
evidence  of  a  long  period  of  village  life  in  these  areas  —  much 
longer  than  that  of  the  Aztecs  in  the  valley  of  Mexico,  if  we  may 
judge  from  a  comparison  of  corresponding  works.  It  does  not 
follow,  however,  that  the  whole  of  their  experience  in  village 
life  was  acquired  within  the  areas  in  which  they  were  found. 

It  is  a  singular  as  well  as  instructive  fact  that  the  principal 
historical  nations  of  Mexico  found  in  possession  of  the  country 
at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  invasion  had  resided  there  but  a  few 
hundred  years.  Their  respective  migrations  were  so  recent  in 
point  of  time,  that  the  knowledge  of  the  event,  and  of  the  direc- 
tion from  which  they  came,  had  not  fallen  out  of  remembrance. 
The  particulars,  with  some  degree  of  minuteness,  were  preserved 
by  tradition.  It  becomes  then  a  question  of  importance  how  far 
historical  credit  can  be  given  to  traditions,  which  are  necessarily 
verbal,  and  liable  to  alteration  in  their  transmission.  The  ques- 
tion is  one  worthy  of  a  brief  discussion. 

Indian  nations  usually  have  a  definite  tradition  of  their  last 
migration,  particularly  when  it  resulted  in  a  prosperous  estab- 
lishment in  a  new  home.  It  would  require  several  centuries  to 
efface  all  remembrance  of  such  an  experience  among  a  people  of 
ordinary  intelligence.  An  oral  tradition  of  a  great  migration, 
embodying  an  event  so  influential  upon  the  subsequent  life  of  a 
nation,  would  preserve  the  principal  facts  with  great  tenacity. 
In  the  absence  of  improbable  circumstances,  its  essential  state- 
ments must  be  accepted  as  historical  evidence.  These  Indian 
traditions  usually  contain  internal  evidence  of  probability ;  and 


1  History  of  Mexico,  in,  100.  He  names  (Ibid.,  page  371),  the  following  languages,  fourteen  in 
number,  of  which  a  grammar,  a  dictionary,  or  both  had  been  prepared,  viz :  Mexican,  Otomie, 
Tarascan,  Zapotecan,  Miztecan,  Maya,  Totonacan,  Popolucan,  Matlazincan,  Huaxtecan,  Mixe, 

Cakciquul,  Taraumaran,  and  Tepehuanan. 


238  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

when  they  speak  of  no  extravagant  periods  of  time  or  unreason- 
able occurrences,  their  credibility  may  be  admitted,  on  the  ground 
of  the  extreme  improbability  that  the  remembrance  of  such 
events  should  have  been  lost.  These  suggestions  apply  to  the 
historical  traditions  of  the  principal  Mexican  nations,  to  be  stated 
hereafter,  which  have  an  important  bearing  upon  the  general 
conclusions  to  which  the  main  discussion  in  this  article  tends. 
Whatever  support  the  written  or  pictorial  records  of  the  Aztecs 
may  add  is  left  out  of  view.  After  the  lapse  of  a  few  centuries, 
it  is  not  uncommon  for  a  claim  to  autochthony  to  spring  up,  and 
dispute  possession  with  the  tradition  of  a  previous  migration 
from  a  distant  land.  Thus  the  Iroquois  have  a  well-defined  tra- 
dition that  they  came  from  the  north  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
near  Montreal  into  Central  New  York,  by  way  of  the  Oswego 
river,  coasting  the  lake  in  canoes  ;  and  this  tradition  is  confirmed 
by  sufficient  independent  evidence.  They  also  have  a  tradition 
that  they  sprang  out  of  the  ground,  the  Onondagas  near  Oswego, 
and  the  Senecas  near  Canandaigua.  The  traditions  of  the  princi- 
pal Mexican  nations  concerning  their  migration  from  the  north 
#re  more  specific  than  that  of  the  Iroquois.  They  contain  such 
internal  evidence  of  probability  that  it  is  difficult  to  perceive 
upon  what  just  ground  of  criticism  their  authority  can  be  denied. 
The  Aztecs  had  a  full  and  circumstantial  tradition,  not  only 
of  their  own  migration  from  the  north,  but  also  of  the  migration 
of  several  other  kindred  nations.  It  is  given  by  Acosta,  whose 
work  was  first  published  at  Seville  in  1589.1  He  visited  Mexico 
prior  to  that  date,2  and  consequently  was  in  the  country  early 
enough  to  reach  original  sources  of  information.  Substantially 
the  same  tradition  is  given  by  Herrera  and  Clavigero.  Acosta 
remarks :  "  These  second  peoples,  Navatalcas  [the  first  inhabit- 
ants he  calls  Chichemecas],  came  from  other  far  countries  which 
lie  towards  the  north,  where  now  they  have  discovered  a  kingdom 
which  they  call  New  Mexico.  There  are  two  provinces  in  this 
country  —  the  one  called  Aztlan,  which  is  to  say,  a  place  of 


1  Natural  and  Moral  History  of  the  East  and  West  Indies,  Lond.    ed.  1604,  Grimstone's  Trans., 
pp.  497  — 504. 
»  Acosta  states  in  his  work  (p.  502)  that  he  was  in  Mexico  in  1585. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  239 

herons  ;  the  other  Teaculhuacan,  which  signifies  a  land  of  such 

whose  grandfathers  were  divine The  Navatalcas  paint 

their  beginning  and  first  territory  in  the  figure  of  a  cave,  and  say 
they  came  forth  of  seven  caves  to  come  and  people  the  land  of 
Mexico."  He  fixes'  the  time  of  the  migration  of  the  first  of  the 
seven  nations  at  720  A.  D.  —  which  of  course  must  be  considered 
as  an  approximate  date  only  —  and  the  length  of  time  consumed 
in  the  movement  at  eighty  years.  In  like  manner  the  migration 
of  the  Aztecs,  the  last  of  the  seven  nations,  was  commenced  in 
1022  A.  D.,  according  to  the  same  authority.  Acosta  states  the 
names  of  these  nations  and  the  order  of  their  arrival  in  Mexico 
as  follows  :  1.  Suchimilcos,  nation  of  the  seeds  of  flowers.  They 
settled  upon  Lake  Xochimilco.  2.  Chalcas,  people  of  mouths. 
They  came  long  after  the  former,  and  settled  near  them.  3. 
Tepanecans,  people  of  the  bridge.  They  settled  on  the  west  side 
of  the  lake  of  Mexico.  Their  chief  town,  Azcapuzalco,  signifies 
the  ants'  nest.  They  were  numerous.  4.  Culhuas,  a  crooked 
people.  These  were  the  Tezcucans,  who  came  some  time  after, 
and  settled  upon  the  east  side  of  the  lake.  5.  Tlatluicans,  men 
of  the  sierra,  or  mountain.  This  nation,  finding  the  country 
around  Lake  Tezcuco  occupied,  passed  southward,  to  the  other 
side  of  the  mountain.  6.  Tlascaltecans,  men  of  bread.  They 
settled  Tlascala,  7.  Aztecs,  or  Mexicans.  "  Three  hundred  and 
two  years  afterwards  [1022]  those  of  the  seventh  cave  or  line 
arrived,  which  is  the  Mexican  nation ;  the  which,  like  unto  the 
rest,  left  Aztlan  and  Teaculhuacan  a  polite,  cultivated,  and  war- 
like nation." 

Clavigero  gives  substantially  the  same  tradition.  "But  of 
all  the  nations,"  he  remarks,  "  which  peopled  the  region  of 
Anahuac,  the  most  renowned  and  the  most  signalized  in  the 
history  of  Mexico  were  those  vulgarly  called  Nahuatlacas.  This 

name was  principally  given  to  those  seven  nations,  or 

rather  those  seven  tribes  of  the  same  nation,  who  arrived  in  that 
country  after  the  Chichemecas,  and  peopled  the  little  islands, 
banks,  and  boundaries  of  the  Mexican  lakes.  These  tribes  were 
the  Sochimilcas,  the  Chalchesc,  the  Tepanecas,  the  Colhuas,  the 
Tlahuicas,  the  Tlascalans,  and  the  Mexicans.  The  origin  of  all 


240  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

these  tribes  was  the  province  of  Aztlan,  from  whence  came  the 
Mexicans,  or  from  some  other  contiguous  to  it,  and  peopled  with 
the  same  nation.  All  historians  represent  them  as  originally  ol 
one  and  the  same  country ;  all  of  them  spoke  the  same  language."1 
Elsewhere  he  observes  :  "  The  Chichemecas,  like  the  Toltecs. 
who  preceded  them,  and  other  nations,  which  came  after  them, 
were  originally  from  the  north  countries,  as  we  may  call  the 
north  of  America,  like  the  north  of  Europe,  the  seminary  of  the 
human  race."2 

Besides  this  general  tradition,  there  is  another  of  the  Aztec 
migration  exclusively,  giving  a  circumstantial  account  of  the 
motive  in  which  it  originated,  the  various  localities  in  which 
the  emigrants  were  established  for  a  time  on  the  way,  and  the 
incidents  connected  with  their  arrival  in  the  valley,  and  with 
the  foundation  of  the  pueblo  of  Mexico.  They  left  Aztlan,  ac- 
cording to  Clavigero,  in  1160,  arrived  at  Tulla,  north  of  the 
valley,  in  1196,  at  Chapultepec  in  1245,  at  Acoloco  in  1262,  were 
enslaved  by  the  Cholulans  in  1314,  freed  themselves  in  1325, 
and  that  year  founded  Mexico.3 

The  first  and  general  tradition  was  evidently  derived  immedi- 
ately from  original  sources.  Omitting  the  attempt  at  a  fixed 
chronology,  which  is  necesarily  conjectural  even  in  regard  to  the 
century,  and  also  the  previous  cave-life,  which  may  embody  a 
more  ancient  tradition,  we  may  accept  as  credible  the  principal 
fact  of  a  migration  of  these  nations  from  the  north,  in  the  order 
stated,  and  within  a  period  not  remote.  It  is  probable  that  this 
tradition,  which  may  possibly  have  been  derived  from  Aztec  re- 


1  Hist,  of  Mexico  (Phila.  ed.  1817),  Culien's  Trans.,  i,  141.  Herrera  adopts  this  tradition,  and 
remarks  upon  their  northern  origin  as  follows  :  "  They  came  from  remote  parts  northward,  where 
New  Mexico  was  afterwards  found  "  (History  of  America,  Lond.  ed.  1725,  Stevens's  Trans.,  m, 
188, 189). 

*  Ibid,  n,  119.  Prescott  (Hist.  Conq.  of  Mexico,  in,  397),  thus  refers  to  the  several  traditions : 
"  They  are  admitted  to  agree  in  representing  the  populous  north  as  the  prolific  hive  of  the  American 

races From  this  quarter  the  Toltecs,  the  Chichemecs,  and  the  kindred  races  of  the  Nahuatlacs 

came  successively  up  the  great  plateau  of  the  Andes,  spreading  over  the  hills  and  valleys  down  to 
the  gulf  of  Mexico."  Again  (Ibid.,  i,  15) :  "  The  Mexicans,  with  whom  our  history  is  principally 
concerned,  came  also,  as  has  been  seen,  from  the  remote  regions  of  the  north,  the  populous  hive  of 
nations  in  the  new  world,  as  it  has  been  in  the  old." 

»  History  of  Mexico,  i,  150. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  241 

cords,  rests  upon  the  authority  of  Acosta  alone,  in  which  case  its 
repetition  by  other  authors  does  not  increase  its  weight.  Whether 
Acosta  obtained  it  directly  from  aboriginal  sources  or  at  second- 
hand, it  is  probable  in  itself,  and  both  in  style  and  matter  bears 
genuine  marks  of  the  Indian  mind.  The  names  given  to  these 
several  nations  are  in  strict  accordance  with  the  Indian  method 
of  national  designation,  and  find  their  analogues  in  the  names  of 
northern  Indian  nations  at  the  present  time.1  It  is  also  intrin- 
sically probable  that  these  nations  migrated  at  intervals  of  time, 
one  following  the  other,  and  that  years  were  consumed  while 
these  several  movements  were  progressing.  Since  they  must 
have  passed  through  regions  partially  inhabited,  and  were  striving 
to  enter  a  highly  desirable  area  already  occupied  by  other  nations, 
their  migrations  were  necessarily  military  migrations,  in  which 
they  contended  with  hostile  nations  for  the  mastery  of  each  area. 
A  successful  migration,  followed  by  a  prosperous  establishment 
in  a  desirable  home,  would  involve  years  of  effort  and  several 
changes  of  location.  The  special  and  more  elaborate  tradition  of 
the  Aztec  migration  which  rests  upon  the  authority  of  Clavigero 
corroborates  the  first.  It  is  not  necessary  to  adopt  the  minute 
circumstances  or  the  chronology.  The  Aztecs,  before  their  ar- 
rival in  Mexico,  could  scarcely  have  possessed  an  accurate  method 
of  recording  time ;  but  the  principal  events  which  occurred  be- 
tween the  time  when  they  are  supposed  to  have  left  Aztlan  (A.D. 
1160)  and  the  Spanish  conquest  (1520),  embracing  a  period  of 
three  hundred  and  sixty  years,  would  be  kept  in  remembrance. 
Within  this  period  also  the  lapse  of  time  between  particular 
events  would  be  known  with  reasonable  nearness.  It  is  another 
confirmatory  fact  that  no  extravagant  antiquity  is  claimed  for 
the  foundation  of  the  pueblo  of  Mexico.  The  Aztec  records 
fixed  the  period  at  about  1325,  but  one  hundred  and  ninety-six 
years  prior  to  the  Spanish  conquest.  To  have  increased  their 
numbers  and  their  influence  from  a  small  and  feeble  band,  such 


1  Thus,  Senecas,  Nun-da-wd-o-no,  great  hill  people ;  Onondagas,  0-nun-dd-ga-o-no,  people  on  the 
hilla  ;  lowas,  Pa-ho-che,  dusty  noses ;  Missouris,  Ne-oo-cfia-td,  at  the  mouth  of  the  stream  ;  Mi-ni- 
kan-ye,  those  who  plant  by  the  water;  and  0-ga-lal-ld,  raising  camp  —the  last  two  being  Dakotan 
nations. 

17 


242  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

as  they  doubtless  were  when  they  founded  Mexico,  to  their  pros- 
perous condition  at  the  latter  date,  must  have  required  all  the 
time  assigned.  It  would  seem  also  to  create  the  further  necessity 
of  moderating  materially  the  current  estimates  of  their  advance- 
ment and  numbers.  These  several  traditions  could  scarcely  have 
been  fictions  of  Spanish  writers.  They  are  so  intrinsically  pro- 
bable in  their  main  recitals,  that  they  may  fairly  claim  to  be  re- 
garded as  historical  evidence.1 

But  little  is  known  of  the  migrations  of  the  Village  Indians  of 
Yucatan  and  Central  America,  and  this  little  rests  upon  tradi- 
tion. The  Chiapanese  had  a  similar  tradition  of  a  northern  origin. 
"  They  say,"  observes  Clavigero,  "  that  the  first  peoples  came 
from  the  quarter  of  the  north,  and  when  they  arrived  at  Soconusco 
they  separated,  some  going  to  inhabit  the  country  of  Nicaragua, 
and  others  remaining  in  Chiapan."  It  has  elsewhere  been  stated 
that  Oviedo,  in  1526,  found  a  people  in  Nicaragua  who  spoke  an 
Aztec  dialect  which  would  refer  them  also  to  ail  original  home 
in  the  north. 

"With  these  traditions  of  a  northern  origin,  which  seem  to  have 
been  current  in  several  nations  in  Mexico  and  Central  America, 
and  with  what  is  still  a  matter  of  obvious  inference  from  the 


1  The  Honorable  John  R.  Bartlett,  whose  conclusions  as  an  investigator  are  entitled  to  great  ro- 
spect,  questions  these  traditions  as  evidence  that  the  Aztecs  were  immigrants  from  the  north.  He 
observes  :  "  I  am  unable  to  learn  from  what  source  the  prevailing  idea  has  arisen,  of  the  migration 
of  the  Aztecs,  or  ancient  Mexicans,  from  the  north  into  the  valley  of  Mexico,  and  the  three  halts 
they  made  in  their  journey  thither.  This  is  another  idea  which  has  been  so  widely  promulgated 
that  it  has  settled  down  into  an  acknowledged  fact,  although  I  confess  I  have  seen  no  satisfactory 

evidence  of  its  truth The  traditions  which  gave  rise  to  this  notion  are  extremely  vague, 

and  wure  not  seriously  entertained  until  Torquemada,  Boturini,  and  Clavigero  gave  them  currency  ; 
but  they  must  now  give  way  to  the  more  reliable  results  from  linguistic  comparisons.  No  analogy 
has  yet  been  traced  between  the  language  of  the  old  Mexicans  and  that  of  any  tribe  at  the  north  in 
the  district  from  which  they  are  supposed  to  have  come ;  nor  in  any  of  the  relics,  ornaments,  or 
works  of  art  do  we  observe  a  resemblance  between  them." —  Personal  Narrative,  n,  283. 

That  a  particular  Indian  language  has  passed  beyond  identification  with  any  other  in  its  vocables, 
and  become  an  independent  stock  language,  is  not  decisive  evidence  against  a  migration  of  the  people 
speaking  it  from  any  place  in  which  we  have  reason  to  suppose  it  once  dwelt.  It  may  be  mentioned, 
however,  that  some  words  have  been  detected  in  the  Koluschian  of  Sitka,  and  in  some  other  far 
northern  language,  which  are  believed  to  be  identical  with  the  corresponding  words  in  the  Aztec 
speech.  Latham  (Notes  to  Prichard's  Eastern  Origin  of  the  Celtic  Nations,  p.  21),  refers  to  this  fact 
in  the  following  language:  "The  Aztec  or  Mexican  words  found  in  this  language  were  indicated  in 
the  Mithridates.  Since  the  publication,  howevei,  of  that  work,  they  have  been  shown  to  exist  in 
other  American  languages  —  some  inland,  some  southern,  some  interjacent  to  the  Kolosh  and  Mex- 
ican areas,  e.  g.  in  California  and  elsewhere." 


INDIAN  MI&RATIONS.  243 

geographical  features  of  North  America,  and  the  relation  of  the 
valley  of  the  Columbia  to  all  its  other  areas,  it  is  difficult  to  ar- 
rive at  any  other  conclusion  than  that  the  ancestors  of  all  these 
nations  were  emigrants  from  that  remarkable  valley. 

3.  The  Mound  Builders. —  The  inquiry,  thus  far,  has  been  re- 
stricted to  the  Indian  nations  in  actual  possession  of  the  country 
at  the  period  of  European  discovery.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed, 
however,  that  the  nations  found  in  particular  areas  were  the  first 
occupants.  In  very  many  cases  the  contrary  is  known  to  be  true. 
Under  the  inexorable  law  which  perpetually  worked  the  subdi- 
vision of  the  Indian  tribes  as  they  spread  abroad,  there  was  a 
constant  tendency  towards  an  obliteration  of  many  of  these  frag- 
mentary nations,  through  collisions  with  one  another.  Large 
numbers  of  these  nations,  both  in  North  and  South  America, 
undoubtedly  perished  in  the  course  of  centuries,  not  necessarily 
by  the  process  of  extermination,  but  rather  from  inability  to 
maintain  successfully  the  struggle  for  independence.  They  dis- 
appeared under  the  blow  of  some  calamity,  their  fragments  be- 
coming incorporated  with  other  nations.  The  several  stocks 
belonging  to  the  Ganowanian  family,  who  were  found  in  pos- 
session of  the  land,  are  to  be  regarded  as  the  descendants  and  re- 
presentatives of  an  original  stock,  which  flowed  out  in  successive 
streams  from  some  original  centre.  The  remoteness  in  the  past 
of  their  first  establishment  must  be  estimated  by  the  time  re- 
quired to  create  the  present  diversity  of  speech,  both  in  dialects 
and  stock  languages. 

Among  those  nations  who  are  without  recognized  descendants 
are  the  mound-builders  who  lived  east  of  the  Mississippi.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  they  were  agricultural  and  Village  Indians,  from  their 
artificial  embankments,  their  implements  and  utensils,  and  from 
their  selection  of  the  areas  most  poorly  provided  with  fish  and 
game.  From  the  absence  of  all  traditionary  knowledge  of  their 
existence,  amongst  the  nations  found  in  possession  of  their  ter- 
ritories, it  is  also  to  be  inferred  that  the  period  of  their  occupa- 
tion was  ancient.  Their  disappearance  was  probably  gradual, 
and  completed  before  the  advent  of  the  present  stocks,  or 
simultaneously  with  their  arrival.  The  small  number  of  sites  of 


244  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

ancient  villages,  and  the  scanty  population  assignable  to  Indian 
villages  even  of  the  largest  class,  particularly  in  cold  climates, 
are  good  reasons  for  supposing  they  were  never  very  numerous. 
It  is  a  reasonable  conjecture,  as  elsewhere  stated,  that  they  were 
Village  Indians  from  New  Mexico.  In  fact,  there  is  no  other 
region  from  which  they  could  have  been  derived ;  unless  it  be 
assumed  that,  originally  Roving  Indians,  they  had  become,  after 
their  establishment  east  of  the  Mississippi,  Village  Indians  of  the 
highest  type  —  of  which  there  is  not  the  slightest  probability.  It 
seems  more  likely  that  their  retirement  from  the  country  was 
voluntary,  than  that  they  were  expelled  by  an  influx  of  roving 
nations.  If  their  overthrow  had  been  the  result  of  a  protracted 
warfare,  all  remembrance  of  so  remarkable  an  event  would 
scarcely  have  been  lost  among  the  nations  by  whom  they  were 
displaced.  A  warm  climate  was  to  some  extent  necessary  for 
the  successful  maintenance  of  the  highest  form  of  Village  Indian 
life.  In  the  struggle  for  existence  in  the  colder  climates,  Indian 
arts  and  ingenuity  have  been  taxed  quite  as  severely  to  provide 
clothing  as  food.  It  is,  therefore,  not  improbable  that  the  attempt 
to  transfer  the  type  of  village  life  of  New  Mexico  to  the  Ohio 
valley  proved  a  failure ;  and  that  after  great  efforts,  continued 
for  more  centuries  than  one,  it  was  finally  abandoned,  and  they 
gradually  withdrew,  first  into  the  gulf  states,  and  lastly  from  the 
country  altogether. 

~No  reference  has  been  made  to  the  Eskimo,  for  the  reason  that 
their  system  of  consanguinity  and  affinity  disconnects  them  from 
the  Ganowanian  family.  The  Eskimo  were  originally  emigrants 
from  Asia,  if  the  fact  that  a  portion  of  this  stock  still  exists  upon 
the  Asiatic  side  of  the  strait  of  Behring  can  be  considered  suffi- 
cient evidence.  On  the  assumption  that  the  Ganowanian  family 
came  out  of  Asia,  their  migration  was  necessarily  very  much 
earlier  than  that  of  the  Eskimo.  This  is  sufficiently  demonstrated 
by  the  number  of  stock  languages  and  dialects  now  existing  in 
the  former  family,  which,  on  the  supposition  of  an  Asiatic  origin, 
would  have  required  for  their  formation  immensely  long  periods 
of  time  after  their  arrival  on  this  continent.  On  the  contrary,  the 
dialects  of  the  Eskimo,  from  the  gulf  of  Anadyr  in  Asia,  through 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  245 

Arctic  America  and  Greenland,  still  belong  to  the  same  stock 
language,  which  precludes  the  supposition  of  any  great  antiquity 
of  the  Eskimo  on  the  American  continent. 

This  concludes  the  suggestions  the  writer  intended  to  make 
with  respect  to  particular  migrations.  The  discussion  has  heen 
made  sufficiently  comprehensive  to  include  the  body  of  the 
American  aborigines  found  in  possession  at  the  period  of 
European  discovery.  If  the  views  herein  presented  as  to  these 
stocks  are  sound,  those  which  have  disappeared,  and  those  which 
remain  unnoticed,  must  have  followed  the  same  routes.  Some 
genera]  considerations  will  <'onclude  these  articles. 

With  respect  to  the  influence  of  agricultural  subsistence  in 
tending  to  create  separate  centres  of  population,  either  in  South 
or  North  America,  able  collectively  to  offset  the  superior  advan- 
tages in  point  of  natural  means  of  subsistence  possessed  by  the 
valley  of  the  Columbia,  some  further  discussion  may  be  necessary, 
lest  a  doubt  should  remain  upon  this  material  question.  An 
outgrowth  of  civilization  in  a  particular  area,  founded  upon  a 
subsistence  obtained  by  agriculture,  might,  if  carried  far  enough, 
have  neutralized  the  previously  superior  advantages  of  the  valley 
of  the  Columbia,  and  thus  have  created  a  more  fruitful  centre 
of  population,  able  to  send  forth  larger  streams  to  overpower 
those  issuing  from  that  area.  But  there  is  not  a  fact  to  show 
that  the  Village  Indians  of  Central  America  or  Mexico  ever 
spread  northward,  or  competed  with  the  Northern  Indians  for 
the  possession  of  any  part  of  the  continent  north  of  the  immediate 
valley  of  Mexico ;  while  several  reasons  may  be  assigned  against 
the  supposition  of  a  movement  in  that  direction.  In  the  first 
place,  the  principal  historical  nations  found  in  Mexico  were 
themselves  emigrants  from  the  north.  Secondly,  climatic  con- 
siderations, in  the  absence  of  overcrowded  territories,  would 
tend  to  repress  migrations  from  a  warm  to  a  colder  region. 
Thirdly,  their  type  of  village  life  was  nqt  adapted  to  cold  climates. 
Although  possessed  of  cotton,  and  the  art  of  spinning  and  weav- 
ing it  into  light  fabrics,  this  was  incapable  of  affording  them  a 
warm  apparel.  The  Village  Indians  of  New  Mexico,  although 
well  advanced  in  Indian  arts,  wore  buffalo-robes  and  other  robes 


246  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

of  skins,  like  the  "Roving  Indians.  Friar  Marcos  de  Niza,  in  his 
relation,  speaking  of  the  Cibolans- in  1540,  remarks:  "Their 
apparel  is  of  cotton  and  ox-hides,  and  this  is  their  most  commend- 
able and  honorable  apparel."1  They  possessed  no  manufactured 
fabric  capable  of  becoming  a  substitute  for  skins  in  the  winter 
season.  Fourthly,  their  institutions  were  unfavorable  to  the 
formation  of  a  state  capable  of  embracing  and  governing  the 
descendants  of  an  original  stock  as  it  increased  in  numbers  and 
spread  over  larger  areas.  It  was  impossible  to  comprehend 
great  numbers  of  the  same  lineage  and  language  under  one 
Indian  government,  and  thus  create  a  large  homogeneous 
population ;  and  it  is  extremely  doubtful  whether  there  ever 
were  at  one  time,  in  any  part  of  North  America,  one  hundred 
thousand  Indians  who  spoke  the  same  dialect.  This,  if  true,  is 
BO  remarkable  as  well  as  important  a  fact,  that  the  disproval  ot 
it  would  be  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  history  of  the  American 
aborigines.  These  were  organized  into  small  bands  or  nations, 
the  people  of  which  spoke  the  same  dialect.  In  many  instances 
two  or  more  such  nations  speaking  dialects  of  the  same  stock 
language  were  united  into  a  confederacy.  The  government 
of  each  was  an  oligarchy  of  chiefs  in  council,  and  the  system 
failed  to  arrest  the  tendency  to  repeated  subdivision,  followed 
by  territorial  separation,  independence,  and  the  gradual  forma- 
tion of  new  dialects.  As  a  necessary  consequence  of  this  multi- 
plicity of  nations  and  dialects,  without  any  comprehensive 
governmental  organization,  perpetual  warfare  was  superadded  to 
the  other  hardships  of  their  condition  which  tended  to  prevent 
their  increase.  The  Aztec  confederacy  was  the  highest  and  most 
successful  effort  of  the  North  American  Indian  nations  to  establish 
an  Indian  power.  Yet  it  created  neither  an  empire  nor  a  state,  in 
any  proper  sense  of  those  terms.  It  subdued  and  placed  under 
tribute  a  number  of  feeble  petty  nations,  chiefly  south  of  the  valley; 
but  it  failed  to  consolidate  them  into  one  people,  even  for  govern- 
mental purposes.  On  the  'contrary,  it  is  plain  that  the  confederacy 
was  unable  to  wield  the  power  of  these  tributary  nations  for  common 


Hakluyt's  Collection  of  Voyages,  London,  England,  1600,  m,  872. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  247 

national  objects.1  A  government  founded  upon  territory,  resting 
upon  the  body  of  the  people,  and  administered  by  law,  is  the 
growth  of  ages.  The  American  aborigines  were  thousands  of 
years  behind  the  modern  idea  of  a  state  in  their  development. 
The  table-lands  of  Mexico  have  no  history  prior  to  the  Aztec 
occupation,  except  the  dim  account  of  their  Toltec  predecessors, 
and  the  unimportant  history  of  their  contemporaries.  No  people 
were  ever  able  to  hold  these  table-lands  and  valleys  long  enough 
to  found  a  state ;  to  rise  by  force  of  numbers  out  of  the  tribal, 
national  and  confederate  organizations  into  a  true  political  life, 
with  a  government  of  fixed  and  equal  laws  in  the  place  of  the 
arbitrary  will  of  chiefs  and  the  equally  fluctuating  determinations 
of  councils.  The  time  had  not  arrived,  in  the  successive  stages 
of  progressive  experience,  for  the  American  Indian  to  arrive  at 
the  forms  of  civilization.  Fifthly,  agriculture  transformed  them 
from  Roving  into  Village  Indians,  which  tended  to  localize  them, 
as  has  been  elsewhere  stated;  but  this,  although  the  numbers 
speaking  the  same  dialect  were  thereby  considerably  increased, 
restricted  them  to  much  smaller  areas  than  those  occupied  by 
nations  of  Roving  Indians.  Lastly,  the  productiveness  of  their 
agriculture  was  very  limited,  from  the  small  extent  of  land  cul- 
tivated, imperfect  implements,  and  the  amount  of  labor  involved. 
It  does  not  appear,  therefore,  that  there  was  any  centre  of 
population,  either  in  Mexico  or  elsewhere,  which  became,  on  the 
basis  of  agricultural  subsistence,  a  competitor  with  the  fish-pro- 
ducing country  of  the  Columbia  in  populating  the  continent. 
On  the  contrary,  we  are  compelled  to  look  to  the  last  named  re- 
gion for  that  constant  surplus  of  numbers,  which  would  furnish 
successive  streams  of  emigants,  through  indefinite  periods  of  time, 
until  an  equilibrium  of  population  was  reached  throughout  the 
continent.  Since  physical  causes  were  superior  to  human  arts 
and  institutions  in  influencing  the  movements  of  the  aborigines, 
these  causes  remained  unaffected,  except  to  a  limited  extent,  by 
the  indigenous  civilization  which  sprang  up  in  particular  areas. 


1  But  one  of  these  nations  responded  to  the  call  for  aid  againnt  the  Spaniards ;  and  this  tardy  force 
was  dispersed  before  it  reached  the  scene  of  action. 


248  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

It  is  surprising  how  small  an  excess  of  natural  advantages  will 
invest  a  single  district  of  country  with  permanent  control  over 
an  entire  continent  in  the  primitive  periods  of  man's  existence ; 
and  with  how  great  difficulty  that  superiority  is  neutralized  and 
overcome.  The  reason  is  found  in  the  uniformity  of  the  opera- 
tion of  physical  causes.  We  have  seen  that  the  Shoshonee  mi- 
gration was  in  progress  at  the  time  of  European  colonization ; 
and  that,  at  the  last  moment  of  the  exclusive  possession  of  North 
America  by  its  aboriginal  inhabitants,  the  valley  of  the  Columbia 
was  sending  out  another  stock  language  and  an  independent 
people,  to  take  their  place  in  the  midst  of  the  languages  and 
nations  that  had  preceded  them  from  the  same  land.  Likewise 
the  ultimate  fact  is  reached,  that  a  fish  subsistence  created  the 
surplus  of  numbers  which  first  spread  abroad  from  this  initial 
point  to  people  North  America,  and  from  time  to  time  supplied 
the  successive  bands  of  emigrants  which  replenished  the  conti- 
nent with  inhabitants. 

It  remains  to  apply  the  facts  and  conclusions,  thus  reached 
in  relation  to  the  North  American  Indians,  to  the  aborigines  of 
South  America,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  they 
are  sufficient  to  sustain  a  similar  hypothesis  with  regard  to  the 
peopling  of  the  southern  from  the  northern  continent. 

"We  are  now  prepared  to  recognize  the  existence  of  a  constant 
tendency  of  the  aboriginal  population  to  flow  southward  from 
the  valley  of  the  Columbia,  down  the  mountain  chains  toward 
the  isthmus  of  Panama.  A  movement  northward  would  be  less 
probable,  from  climatic  reasons,  and  eastward  still  less,  from  the 
barrier  of  the  central  plains.  Mexico  and  Central  America  pre- 
sumptively were  first  reached  and  occupied.  Each  successive 
stream  of  population  would  press  upon  its  predecessors,  tending 
to  force  the  first  emigrants  southward  through  the  isthmus  into 
South  America,  where  the  Andes,  a  continuation  substantially 
of  the  Rocky  mountain  chain,  would  direct  the  movement  toward 
Patagonia.  It  is  also  probable,  as  has  been  elsewhere  suggested, 
that  both  divisions  of  the  continent  were  overspread  with  Roving 
Indians  before  the  discovery  of  corn  and  the  art  of  cultivating  it. 
Neither  can  it  be  supposed  that  the  remote  ancestors  of  the 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  249 

American  aborigines  were  as  far  advanced  in  the  arts  of  life  as 
the  Roving  Indians  were  when  first  discovered ;  for  there  are 
many  stages  of  progress  in  the  ages  of  barbarism,  as  well  as  in 
the  age  of  civilization.  Whatever  may  be  the  experience  of 
particular  nations  or  stocks,  the  human  family  forever  pro- 
gresses. Century  after  century  might  have  elapsed  before  the 
thought  of  utilizing  corn  and  the  bean  dawned  upon  the  Indian 
mind.  The  art  of  cultivating  the  earth,  upon  the  limited  scale 
on  which  they  practiced  it,  created  a  new  epoch  in  the  Indian 
family.  It  not  only  favored,  but  necessitated  village  life,  imper- 
fectly attained  before,  which  in  turn  tended  to  a  rapid  develop- 
ment of  Indian  arte.  The  condition  and  antecedents  of  the 
Mexican  and  Central  American  nations,  at  the  period  of  the 
Spanish  conquest,  render  it  probable  that  the  struggle  between 
the  Roving  and  Village  Indians  for  the  possession  of  these  regions 
had  been  continuous  from  age  to  age,  the  former  expelling  the 
latter  and  becoming  themselves  Village  Indians,  to  be  afterwards 
forced  southward  by  succeeding  immigrants.  The  attractive 
character  of  the  table-lands  and  valleys  of  Mexico,  and  their 
position  on  the  narrowing  highway  to  the  gate  of  Panama,  made 
it  extremely  difficult  to  hold  these  lands  against  advancing  bands, 
except  by  superior  numbers,  or  a  higher  knowledge  of  the  art 
of  war.  In  the  latter  respect  it  is  well  known  that  the  Village 
Indians  had  made  no  advance  beyond  the  Roving  Indians,  except 
in  the  art  of  constructing  great  communal  edifices  of  the  nature 
of  fortresses,  which  the  Aztecs  had  carried  a  step  farther  by 
surrounding  their  pueblo  with  water  defences.  The  bow  and 
arrow  and  the  war-club  were  the  principal  weapons  of  all  alike, 
and  the  most  destructive  of  which  they  had  any  knowledge. 

The  first  people  in  the  valley  of  Mexico,  of  whom  any  know- 
ledge has  been  preserved,  were  the  Toltecs.  They  are  supposed 
to  have  made  considerable  progress  in  civilization  ;  but  this  did 
not  enable  them  to  hold  the  valley  any  more  successfully  than 
their  predecessors,  whoever  they  may  have  been.  They  evi- 
dently yielded  to  the  influence  of  some  calamity,  and  silently 
departed,  none  knew  whither.  After  the  discovery  by  Oviedo, 
in  1526,  of  a  people  in  Nicaragua  who  spoke  a  dialect  of  the 


250  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Aztec  language,  this  was  supposed  to  be  the  remains  of  that 
nation  j1  and  whether  it  was  so  or  -not,  the  finding  of  an  Aztec 
stock  in  this  extreme  southern  position  seems  to  confirm  the 
general  conclusion,  that  the  drift  of  population,  particularly  of 
fragments  of  nations,  was  southward.  The  facts  collectively 
seem  to  sustain  the  inference  that  nation  after  nation,  through 
century  after  century,  had  tried  the  experiment  of  holding  these 
table  lands  and  valleys  against  the  Roving  Indians  constantly 
flowing  down  upon  them,  and  that,  one  after  the  other,  they  had 
been  borne  on  toward  the  south,  and  many  of  them,  doubtless, 
swept  through  the  isthmus  into  South  America.  Last,  the  Aztecs 
and  their  confederates  tried  the  experiment,  with  the  probable 
additional  advantage  of  reaching  the  valley  as  agricultural  and 
Village  Indians.  Sufficient  time,  however,  had  not  elapsed  to 
demonstrate  their  ability  to  hold  an  area  lying  across  the  natural 
highway  of  the  continent  southward.  It  should  be  observed 
that,  within  the  short  period  of  two  hundred  years  before  the 
Spanish  conquest,  the  Aztec  confederacy  had  risen  from  very 
small  beginnings.2  At  the  time  of  the  Spanish  invasion  they 
were  still  confronted  upon  the  east,  north,  and  west  by  independ- 
ent and  hostile  nations,  whose  power  they  had  not  been  able  to 
break.  It  may  be  a  question  whether  the  confederacy  would 
have  been  able  to  maintain  its  position  permanently,  if  it  had 
been  left  to  the  natural  course  of  events,  free  from  European 
interference.  Its  position,  surrounded  by  water  defences  sub- 
stantially impregnable  to  Indian  warfare,  was  the  strongest 


1  Trans.  Am.  Ethn.  Soc.,  i,  8. 

a  Immediately  prior  to  the  founding  of  the  pueblo  of  Mexico  (1325)  they  were  living  at  Acoloco, 
which  consisted,  says  Clavigero,  "of  a  number  of  small  islands  in  the  southern  extremity  of  the 

lake There,  for  the  space  of  fifty-two  years,  they  led  the  most  miserable  life  ;  they  subsisted 

on  fish  and  all  sorts  of  insects,  and  the  roots  of  the  marshes,  and  covered  themselves  with  the 

leaves  of  the  amoxtli,  which  grows  plentifully  in  that  lake Their  habitations  were  wretched 

huts,  made  of  the  reeds  and  rushes  which  the  lake  produced.  It  would  be  totally  incredible  that 
for  so  many  years  they  were  able  to  keep  in  existence  in  a  place  so  disadvantageous,  where  they 
were  so  f  tinted  in  the  necessaries  of  life,  were  it  not  verified  by  their  historiaus  and  by  succeeding 
events."— (Hist.  Conq.  Mexico,  i,  156.) 

The  Aztecs  were  the  first  occupiers  of  the  site  of  Mexico.  But  other  nations  of  the  same  descent, 
who  entered  the  valley  before  them,  were  in  possession  of  the  margins  of  the  lakes,  and  would 
hardly  have  overlooked  the  great  natural  strength  of  this  site,  had  it  then  been  surrounded  by  Lake 
Tezcuco.  Their  neglect  of  it  confirms  the  suggestion,  elsewhere  made,  that  the  pueblo  of  Mexico 
was  surrounded  by  artificial  ponds  made  by  the  Aztecs. 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  251 

guaranty  of  successful  resistance,  and  the  accumulation  of  inde- 
pendent bands  on  its  northern  frontier  was  the  source  of  its 
greatest  danger.  With  the  possession  of  this  fertile  valley,  and 
with  the  advantages  of  climate  and  of  agricultural  productions, 
it  might  have  been  expected  that  some  native  stock  would  have 
been  able  to  develop  a  nation  within  this  area,  sufficiently 
numerous  and  powerful  to  influence  materially  the  peopling  of 
both  divisions  of  the  continent.  But  the  Aztecs  would  probably 
have  failed  of  such  a  destiny,  as  all  previous  confederacies,  if 
such  existed,  had  failed,  and  for  reasons  inherent  in  their  insti- 
tutions. 

It  cannot  have  escaped  attention  that  the  general  course  of 
Indian  migrations  upon  the  North- American  continent,  under 
the  influence  of  physical  causes,  would  tend  to  an  early  peopling 
of  South  America.  If  the  general  views  which  have  been  now 
presented  with  reference  to  the  initial  point  and  general  direc- 
tion of  these  migrations  are  considered  established,  they  are 
sufficient  to  create  a  strong  presumption  that  South  America 
received  its  first  inhabitants  from  the  north ;  and  this  presump- 
tion would  require  strong  evidence  to  rebut  it.  Whether  the 
discovery  of  corn  and  the  introduction  of  agriculture  occurred 
north  or  south  of  the  isthmus  of  Panama,  it  is  at  least  plain  that 
it  spread  at  a  remote  period  over  Central  America  and  Mexico  ; 
and  from  that  time  forward  the  effect  of  the  general  course  of 
Indian  migrations  was  to  expel  agricultural  and  Village  Indians 
from  North  into  South  America.  This  process,  long  continued, 
would  tend  to  give  to  South  America  a  superior  class  of  inhabit- 
ants, and,  possibly,  an  older  and  higher  civilization.  The  north- 
ern continent,  in  which  barbarous  nations  preponderated,  was 
thus  impoverished  to  some  extent  by  losing  a  portion  of  its  most 
advanced  and  cultivated  inhabitants  for  the  benefit  of  the  south- 
ern. The  geographical  features  of  America,  and  the  relative 
distribution  of  the  natural  means  of  subsistence,  are  such  as  to 
render  it  extremely  probable  that  a  primitive  family  planted  in 
the  valley  of  the  Columbia,  and  migrating  from  this  area  under 
the  exclusive  influence  of  physical  causes,  would  have  reached 
Patagonia,  as  I  have  elsewhere  suggested,  sooner  than  they 


252  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

would  Florida.  It  may  therefore  be  claimed,  with  a  strong 
degree  of  probability,  that  the  ancestors  of  the  South  American 
Indians  originated  in  this  valley. 

In  this  and  a  preceding  article,  an  attempt  has  been  made  to 
embody  the  principal  facts  bearing  upon  the  migrations  of  the 
North  American  Indians,  in  order  to  form  an  hypothesis  for  ex- 
plaining the  initial  point  of  those  migrations  and  their  general 
courses.  It  was  found  that  these  migrations  were  controlled 
almost  exclusively  by  physical  causes  ;  and  that  their  natural 
highways  were  indicated  by  the  direction  of  the  mountain  chains, 
and  the  courses  of  the  great  rivers  ;  while  a  free  communication 
between  the  western  and  eastern  sides  of  North  America  was 
interrupted  by  the  formidable  barrier  of  the  central  prairie  area. 
In  the  second  place,  a  comparison  of  the  several  districts  of 
North  America,  with  reference  to  the  natural  means  of  subsist- 
ence afforded  by  them,  revealed  great  differences,  and  showed 
that  the  valley  of  the  Columbia  surpassed  all  other  regions  of 
America  in  the  abundance  and  variety  of  food  it  furnished,  to 
which  was  added  the  advantage  of  a  mild  and  genial  climate. 
There,  and  there  alone,  was  found  a  region  capable  of  furnishing 
a  surplus  population  developed  from  the  stable,  unvarying  supply 
of  fish  subsistence,  and  thrown  off  at  such  intervals  of  time  as 
would  explain  the  relations  of  the  several  stocks  to  each  other, 
and  to  the  land  of  their  common  origin.  In  the  third  place, 
certain  facts  were  presented  tending  to  show  that  Indian  agricul- 
ture was  never  carried  far  enough  to  counterbalance  the  advan- 
tages of  the  abundant  fish  subsistence  of  the  Columbia  river.  It 
was  further  shown  that  the  Village  Indians  were  unable  to 
develop,  upon  agricultural  subsistence,  numbers  sufficient  to  over- 
flow the  areas  of  the  Roving  nations  and  accomplish  their  dis- 
placement ;  and  that,  on  the  contrary,  the  latter  nations  from 
time  to  time  penetrated  the  agricultural  districts  and  became  them- 
selves Village  Indians,  thus  contributing  to  their  numbers  ;  and 
finally,  that  the  Roving  and  partially  Village  Indians  seem,  from 
first  to  last,  to  have  taken  the  leading  part  in  peopling  the  areas 
of  North  America.  The  migrations  of  particular  stocks  were 
then  considered,  and  the  relations  of  the  subdivisions  of  each 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  253 

were  indicated.  Comparisons  were  also  made  of  the  relative 
amounts  of  subsistence  afforded  by  nature  in  different  parts  of 
the  continent,  in  order  to  find  the  secondary  centres  from  which 
population  spread.  After  these  had  been  pointed  out,  we  next 
endeavored,  through  the  general  relations  of  these  stocks  to  each 
other,  and  from  their  languages,  traditions,  and  known  migra- 
tions, to  find  the  initial  point  where  these  several  streams  took 
their  rise.  These  investigations  and  comparisons  seemed  to  es- 
tablish, with  a  reasonable  degree  of  certainty,  the  following  con- 
clusions :  first,  that  the  distribution  of  the  aborigines  over  North 
America  began  on  the  Pacific  side  of  the  continent :  second,  that 
the  several  stock  languages  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains  and 
north  of  New  Mexico  had  become  distinct  before  these  stocks 
migrated  eastward ;  third,  that  the  nations  of  Mexico  and  Cen- 
tral America  were  emigrants  from  the  north ;  and  last,  that  the 
initial  point  of  all  these  migrations  was  in  the  valley  of  the 
Columbia.  In  this  valley  a  land  is  discovered  so  amply  endowed 
by  nature  with  the  means  of  subsistence,  and  standing  in  such 
geographical  relations  to  the  remainder  of  North  America,  as  to 
explain  and  harmonize  the  phenomena  under  consideration.  All 
the  conditions  of  an  adequate  and  satisfactory  hypothesis  for  the 
explanation  of  the  migrations  of  the  American  Indians  seem  to 
have  been  fulfilled.  Since  subsistence  on  the  bounties  of  nature 
necessarily  precedes  agriculture  in  the  order  of  time,  any  hypo- 
thesis looking  to  any  other  nursery  of  population  will  fail  for  the 
want  of  the  indispensable  condition  of  a  superabundant  supply, 
by  nature,  of  the  means  of  subsistence.  It  is  entirely  immaterial 
at  what  place  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  between  the  Arctic  sea 
and  Mexico,  the  Indian  family  made  its  first  appearance.  If,  in 
fact,  it  came  from  beyond  the  sea,  it  would  gravitate  irresistibly 
to  the  valley  of  the  Columbia.  That  valley  and  the  adjacent  sea- 
coasts  contained  the  paradise  of  the  red  man  in  the  age  of  stone, 
when  fish  was  his  main  sustenance,  and  game  and  bread-roots 
accessories  for  the  promotion  of  his  physical  development.  It 
will  be  impossible  to  explain  the  peopling  of  North  America  from 
any  other  centre.  Had  the  Indian  family  been  first  planted  in 
South  America,  and  their  descendants  in  course  of  time  reached 


254  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

this  valley,  it  would,  from  and  after  that  event,  have  reversed  the 
course  of  Indian  migrations  and  become  the  source  from  which 
both  divisions  of  the  continent  would  have  received  inhabitants. 
No  other  area  in  either  could  compete  with  it  in  advantages  for 
the  support  and  increase  of  population.  Ample  time  must  have 
elapsed  since  the  first  occupation  of  this  valley  to  efface  beyond  re- 
covery all  traces  of  a  migration  from  South  America,  if  such  ever 
occurred. 

With  respect  to  the  anterior  question,  whether  the  Indian 
family  reached  North  or  South  America  first,  on  the  assumption 
that  it  had  an  Asiatic  origin,  we  are  left  to  a  choice  of  probabili- 
ties. It  is  plain,  however,  that  physical  considerations  and  the 
types  of  man  in  northeastern  Asia  point  to  this  section  of  Asia 
as  the  source,  and  to  the  Aleutian  islands  as  the  probable  avenue, 
of  this  antecedent  migration.  This  is  no  new  hypothesis.  A 
belief  in  his  Asiatic  origin  was  one  of  the  first  conclusions  which 
followed  the  discovery  of  the  Indian  and  a  knowledge  of  his 
physical  characteristics.  Subsequent  investigations  have  strength- 
ened the  grounds  upon  which  this  belief  was  based. 

It  will  furnish  a  not  appropriate  conclusion  to  these  articles 
to  restate  briefly  the  facts  and  reasons  which  support  the  infer- 
ence of  a  derivation  of  the  Indian  family  from  northeastern  Asia. 

In  the  first  place  the  number  of  distinct  types  of  mankind  in 
Asia,  contrasted  with  the  single  type,  aside  from  the  Eskimo, 
existing  in  America,  shows  conclusively  that  the  Asiatic  conti- 
nent has  been  occupied  by  man  much  the  longer  of  the  two. 
The  striking  affinities  in  physical  characteristics  between  the 
Mongolian  and  Tungusian  stocks  of  Asia  and  the  Indian  stocks 
of  America,  and  the  near  approach  of  other  Asiatic  stocks  to 
both,  seem  to  compel  us  to  assume  an  Asiatic  origin  for  the 
American  Indian,  unless  the  independent  creation  of  man  in 
America  be  assumed.  Secondly,  there  are  two  existing  avenues 
between  the  two  continents ;  one  of  which,  across  the  straits 
of  Behring,  has  been  actually  proved  to  be  practicable,  by  the 
Eskimo  migration  ;  and  the  other,  by  the  Aleutian  islands,  is 
rendered  a  probable  route  by  the  fact  that  most  of  these  islands 
are  now  inhabited  by  a  people  of  common  descent,  who  have 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  255 

spread  from  island  to  island.  Whether  the  Eskimo  had  been 
forced  northward  in  Asia  by  the  pressure  of  circumstances  is 
immaterial,  since  it  was  necessary  that  they  should  be  hyperbo- 
rean in  their  habits  to  render  possible  their  transit  across  the  icy 
strait,  which  is  about  fifty  miles  wide  where  it  is  narrowest.1 
But  it  was  not  necessary  that  the  ancestors  of  the  American 
aborigines  should  have  become  hyperboreans  in  Asia,  to  explain 
their  migration  to  America.  The  Aleutian  islands  furnish  a 
possible  as  well  as  much  more  probable  route.  It  is  not  to  be 
supposed  that  it  was  a  deliberate  migration  in  numbers  which 
brought  the  Ganowanian  family  to  America,  if  they  came  from 
Asia.  The  natural  obstacles  presented  to  a  transit  by  the  Aleu- 
tian islands  lead  to  the  inference  that  the  migration  must  have 
been  purely  accidental,  and  limited,  it  is  not  unlikely,  to  a  canoe 
load  of  men  and  women.  It  may  have  been  repeated  at  several 
different  times  in  different  ages,  under  similar  circumstances, 
but  limited  in  each  case  to  inconsiderable  numbers.  If  such 
accidental  emigrants  chanced  to  be  of  different  stocks,  the  later 
ones  would  make  but  a  slight  impression  upon  the  first  stock 
that  reached  America.  These  islands,  the  summits  of  a  chain 
of  submarine  mountains,  stretch  continuously  and  substantially 
in  sight  of  each  other  from  the  peninsula  of  Alaska  to  the  cape 
of  Kamtchatka,  with  the  following  principal  interruptions :  The 
Amoukhta  pass,  separating  two  groups  of  these  islands,  is  about 
sixty  miles  across ;  from  the  island  of  Goreloi  to  the  island  of 
Semisopochnoi  is  the  same  distance ;  from  the  latter  to  Semitchi 
island  is  about  fifty  miles  ;  from  the  island  of  Attou  to  Copper 
island  —  which  is  much  the  widest  interval  between  any  two 
islands  of  the  chain  —  is  two  hundred  and  thirty  miles  ;  and  from 
Behring's  island,  the  last,  and  one  of  the  largest,  of  the  series,  to 
Cape  Kamtchatka  on  the  Asiatic  coast  is  one  hundred  miles.1 
A  migration  by  way  of  these  islands  is  not  improbable,  and  there 
are  two  facts  which  create  a  presumption  in  favor  of  the  occur- 
rence of  such  a  migration  by  the  mere  accidents  of  the  sea  before 


1  Map  of  Alaska  and  the  Aleutian  Islands,  U.  S.  Coast  Survey  Office,  attached  to  speech  of  Hon. 
Charlea  Sumiier  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  on  The  Cession  of  Russian  America,  1867. 


256  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

* 

the  lapse  of  many  ages  after  Asia  was  overspread  with  inhabit- 
ants. The  first  is  the  ocean  stream  of  the  Asiatic  coast — the 
counterpart  of  the  gulf  stream  of  the  North  Atlantic  —  which, 
rising  in  the  South  Pacific  and  flowing  northward,  skirts  the 
shores  of  the  Japanese  and  Kurilian  islands  nearly  to  the  Cape 
of  Kamtchatka,  where  it  is  deflected  to  the  eastward,  and  divides 
into  two  streams.  One  of  these,  following  the  coast,  enters  Beh- 
ring's  strait,  but  the  other,  the  main  stream,  crosses  the  Pacific 
eastward  along  the  south  shores  of  the  Aleutian  islands  to  Alaska, 
where  it  turns  down  the  American  coast.  It  is  not  entirely  lost 
until  it  reaches  the  shores  of  California.  This  ocean  stream 
might  easily  bear  off  canoe-men,  once  thrown  upon  its  current, 
from  the  Kurilian  islands,  and  from  the  coasts  of  Asia,  to  the 
Aleutian  islands.  After  Attou  island,  which  is  but  four  hundred 
and  forty  miles  from  the  nearest  point  in  Asia,  was  gained,  the 
problem  of  reaching  Alaska  would  be  substantially  solved.  It 
would  thus  seem  that  an  instrumentality  was  provided  in  this 
ocean  stream,  whereby  the  American  continent  might  become 
accessible  from  Asia  in  the  early  ages  of  the  human  family.  The 
second  fact  is  the  character  and  position  of  the  Amoor,  one  of 
the  great  rivers  of  Asia,  which  stands  in  nearly  the  same  relation 
to  the  northeastern  section  of  that  continent  that  the  Columbia 
does  to  the  northwestern  portion  of  the  American.  This  river, 
from  its  fisheries,  although  inferior  to  the  Columbia,  must  have 
attracted  inhabitants  to  its  banks  at  a  very  early  period  in  Asiatic 
history.  Its  occupation  would,  in  due  time,  have  led  to  boat 
navigation,  to  familiarity  with  the  sea,  to  the  exploration  and 
occupation  of  the  adjacent  sea  coasts  and  islands,  and  would 
thus  have  prepared  the  way  for  peopling  the  Aleutian  islands  in 
the  manner  stated.  It  is  a  striking  fact  that  the  Tungusian  and 
Mongolian  stocks,  the  nearest  in  type,  of  existing  Asiatics,  to 
the  American  aborigines,  still  hold  the  Amoor  river,  upon  which 
they  have  lived  from  time  immemorial. 

In  the  third  and  last  place,  the  systems  of  consanguinity  and 
affinity  of  several  Asiatic  stocks  agree  with  that  of  the  American 
aborigines.  Omitting  all  discussion  of  the  results  of  a  com- 
parison of  systems,  it  may  be  stated  that  the  system  of  the 


INDIAN  MIGRATIONS.  257 

Seneca-Iroquois  Indians  of  New  York  is  identical,  not  only  in 
radical  characteristics,  but  also  in  the  greater  portion  of  its 
minute  details,  with  that  of  the  Tamil  people  of  South  India.1 
This  identity  in  complicated  and  elaborate  systems  is  hardly 
accidental.  There  are  but  four  hypotheses  conceivable  for  its 
explanation  —  first,  by  borrowing  one  from  the  other ;  second  by 
accidental  invention  by  different  peoples  in  disconnected  areas 
(the  system  being  treated  as  arbitrary  and  artificial) ;  third,  by 
spontaneous  growth  or  development,  in  similar  conditions  of 
society  (the  system  being  treated  as  natural) ;  and  fourth,  by  in- 
heritance with  the  blood  from  a  common  original  source.  The 
first  assumes  territorial  connection,  and  the  consequent  Asiatic 
origin  of  the  Ganowanian  family.  The  second  is  an  impossible 
Irypothesis.  As  the  system  embodies  upwards  of  twenty  arbitrary 
particulars,  the  improbability  of  their  accidental  concurrence  in 
the  Seneca-Iroquois  and  the  Tamil,  increasing  with  the  addition 
of  each  particular  from  first  to  last,  becomes  finally  an  impossi- 
bility. The  third  hypothesis  is  substantial,  and  deserves  con- 
sideration. It  assumes  that  the  system  is  natural  in  its  origin, 
and  in  accordance  with  the  nature  of  descents.  It  must  there- 
fore further  assume  that  the  ancestors  of  the  Seneca-Iroquois, 
and  of  the  Tamilian  people  of  India,  if  created  in  independent 
zoological  provinces,  have  not  only  passed  through  the  same  ex- 
periences, but  also  have  developed  through  great  reformatory 
movements  the  same  sequence  of  customs  and  institutions,  and 
have  wrought  out  by  organic  growth  the  Ganowanian  system  in 
America  and  the  Turanian  system  in  Asia ;  the  two  remaining 
identical  after  having  been  severally  transmitted  with  the  blood 
through  centuries  of  time.  In  view  of  these  difficulties,  it  will 
probably  be  found,  in  the  sequel,  that  the  fourth  hypothesis,  that 
of  transmission  with  the  blood  from  common  ancestors,  is  the 
most  satisfactory. 


1  For  a  comparison  of  the  Tamil  and  Seneca-Iroquois  systems,  see  Proceedings  of  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Vol.  vn,  p.  456. 


18 


A  PERILOUS  FOSSIL  HUNTS 
BY  WILLIAM  C.  WYCKOFF. 

The  early  days  of  the  present  century,  when  Cuvier  first  iden- 
tified in  the  gypsum  quarries  of  Paris  the  remains  of  mighty  ex- 
tinct quadrupeds,  and  the  years  shortly  following  when  nations 
quarreled  over  similar  discoveries,  have  often  heen  called  the 
golden  age  of  palaeontology.  But  ten  times  as  many  fossil  bones 
have  been  recently  brought  to  the  museum  of  Yale  college  as 
Cuvier  ever  saw  in  his  whole  lifetime  —  the  remains  of  animals 
as  large,  as  varied,  and  as  unlike  the  creatures  of  the  present  day 
as  those  which  he  so  accurately  described.  There  is  reason  for 
believing  that  the  year  1874  marks  the  extreme  point  in  this  class 
of  discoveries  ;  certainly  its  collections  will  be  hard  to  surpass  in 
number  and  quality. 

During  the  summer  months  Prof.  0.  C.  Marsh,  whose  annual 
journeys  in  search  of  vertebrate  fossils  at  the  west  have  become 
well  known,  was  deeply  absorbed  in  planning  and  supervising 
the  construction  of  the  new  museum  of  Yale  college.  But  al- 
though unable  himself  to  take  part  in  explorations  in  the  field, 
Prof.  Marsh's  life-work  has  not  halted.  The  bone  business, 
as  his  western  friends  call  it,  did  not  slacken  with  the  hard  times. 
!N"ot  less  than  twelve  parties  of  men  inured  to  the  business  were 
kept  at  work  by  Prof.  Marsh  at  his  own  expense,  and  under  his 
constant  instructions  were  exploring  various  regions  at  the  west 
for  fossils  and  packing  and  sending  forward  the  accumulations. 
Patient  study  of  the  remains  thus  collected  was  leading  Prof. 
Marsh  to  certain  conclusions,  in  respect  to  the  characteristics  of 
extinct  vertebrates,  that  cannot  yet  be  stated.  Notwithstanding 
the  accumulated  arrivals,  the  information  to  be  gleaned  proved 
unsatisfactory  in  determining  vexed  questions.  To  insure  ac- 
curacy, the  careful  comparison  of  great  numbers  of  specimens  is 
necessary. 


Reprinted  from  the  New  York  Tribune  Extra,  No.  27,  March,  1875. 


A  PERILOUS  FOSSIL  HUNT.  259 

Last  October  news  came  to  Prof.  Marsh  that  a  most  promising- 
deposit  of  fossils  had  been  discovered  in  the  Bad  lands,  south 
of  the  Black  hills ;  the  character  and  condition  of  these  bones, 
as  they  lay  imbedded  in  position,  would  throw  additional  light 
on  the  problem  which  he  was  then  engaged  in  working  out.  It 
may  here  be  mentioned  also  that  there  is  no  certainty  that  beds 
of  fossils  will  remain  permanently  undisturbed,  even  where  the 
region  is  only  occupied  by  savages,  for  the  Indians  frequently 
carry  a  fossil  tooth  or  bone  as  an  amulet  or  charm  —  or  as  they 
phrase  it,  as  medicine.  The  discovery  of  fossil  remains  in  the 
locality  just  mentioned  was  originally  made  by  an  Indian,  who 
brought  into  camp  the  molar  tooth  of  an  animal  which  Prof. 
Marsh  has  named  the  Brontotherium.  The  finder  carried  the 
tooth  in  his  tobacco  pouch  ;  his  notion  about  it  was  that  it  had 
belonged  to  "  a  big  horse,  struck  by  lightning." 

Gen.  E.  0.  C. 
Ord,  command- 
ing the  depart- 
ment of  the  Platte, 
and  Col.  T.  H. 
Stariton,  to  whom 
Prof.  Marsh  was 
first  indebted  for 
SKULL  OF  BRONTOTHEKIUM  —  SIDE  VIEW.  information  re- 

specting the  newly  found  fossil  bed,  fully  appreciated  the  im- 
portance of  the  discovery,  and  promised  him  every  assistance  in 
utilizing  it.  The  weather  was  already  cold,  the  season  rapidly 
advancing,  and  the  Indians  feverishly  sensitive  about  the  approach 
of  white  men  to  the  Black  hills.  But  great  as  were  the  perils, 
the  attractions  were  greater ;  besides,  the  professor  had  not  yet 
had  his  annual  vacation,  and  everybody  conversant  with  college 
traditions  knows  that  a  vacation  is  something  to  be  taken  like 
old-school  medicine,  at  all  hazards.  That  he  anticipated  special 
hardship  and  danger  from  Indians  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact 
that  he  took  with  him  no  party  from  New  Haven,  this  expedition 
differing  in  that  respect  from  all  previous  ones.  He  depended 
for  assistance  in  the  field  on  a  number  of  frontiersmen  who  had 


260  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

been  in  his  employ  as  collectors  and  guides  in  previous  expedi- 
tions, and  on  whom  he  knew  he  could  implicitly  rely.  Among 
these  was  Hank  Clifford,  who  had  been  his  chief  guide  in  the 
Niobrara  expedition  of  1873,  and  whose  knowledge  of  the  country 
and  of  the  Indians  had  been  fully  tested.  Other  less  famous  but 
promising  aspirants  for  honors  upon  the  bone  fields  were  attached 
to  the  expedition. 

Leaving  the  rail  road  at  Cheyenne,  Prof.  Marsh  reached  Fort 
Laramie  in  the  early  part  of  November,  and  thence  proceeded  to 
the  Red-Cloud  agency,  where  he  concentrated  the  men  and 
materials  of  the  expedition.  The  outfit  on  such  occasions  includes 
a  great  variety  of  articles  :  implements  of  war,  of  science,  and  of 
the  kitchen,  with  abundant  means  for  so  packing  the  specimens 
obtained  that  they  shall  be  not  injured  by  the  roughest  kind  of 
transportation.  Gen.  L.  P.  Bradley,  Col.  Stanton,  Capt.  Mix, 
and  Lieut.  Hay  were  of  the  party  that  went  from  Laramie  to  the 
Red-Cloud  agency ;  the  escort  was  M  Company  of  the  2d  Cavalry, 
Capt.  John  Mix  in  command ;  Major  A.  S.  Burt  and  Lieut.  "W". 
L.  Carpenter  joined  the  expedition  at  the  agency,  and  greatly 
contributed  to  its  success.  It  was  ascertained  that  the  locality 
of  the  fossils  was  not  within  any  of  the  reservations,  and  hence 
the  Indians  would  have  no  evident  right  to  obstruct  the  explora- 
tions. The  XYIth  section  of  the  treaty  of  1868  with  the  Sioux 
would  make  their  permission  necessary,  if  strictly  interpreted  : 
but  this  treaty  has  become  in  part  a  dead  letter,  being,  for 
instance,  not  enforced  south  of  White  river,  while  by  its  pro- 
visions it  extends  to  Platte  river,  which  is  further  to  the  south- 
ward. Unfortunately  the  bone  field  lay  north  of  the  White 
river.  Prof.  Marsh  was  anxious  to  have  a  willing  assent  from 
the  Indians  ;  a  fight  with  them  was  no  part  of  his  programme. 
Shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the  party  at  the  agency,  Red  Cloud 
himself  put  in  an  appearance  and  was  welcomed  to  dinner.  He 
is  still  the  tall,  straight,  intellectual-looking  chieftain  that  he  was 
when  he  visited  our  seaboard  cities ;  temperate  in  his  habits,  and 
preserving  his  native  dignity.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  he 
has  lost  no  inconsiderable  part  of  the  influence  over  his  tribe, 
especially  among  the  young  warriors,  that  he  possessed  when  he 


A  PERILOUS  FOSSIL  HUNT.  261 

was  their  leader  in  battle.  As  he  cannot  talk  English,  all  con- 
versation with  him  had  to  take  place  through  the  medium  of  an 
interpreter.  The  proposed  expedition  was  only  partially  dis- 
cussed at  the  dinner  table,  and  Red  Cloud's  sentiments  in  respect 
to  it  were  judged  not  to  be  unfriendly. 

But  there  were  many  circumstances  making  the  time  unpropi- 
tious.  The  affair  of  the  flagstaff  was  recent ;  it  occurred  before 
Prof.  Marsh  left  Cheyenne,  and  occasioned  there  many  misgiv- 
ings as  to  his  prospects ;  in  fact  there  was  for  a  while  some  alarm 
as  to  the  possible  fate  of  the  agency.  The  occurrence  was  de- 
ecribed  at  the  time  ;  it  may  here  be  briefly  recapitulated.  An 
attempt  was  made  to  raise  a  flagstaff  and  hoist  the  United  States 
flag  at  the  Red-Cloud  agency,  as  is  always  done  at  military  posts 
in  the  west.  This  aroused  the  animosity  of  Indians  encamped 
in  the  vicinity ;  they  cut  down  the  flagstaff  and  made  prepara- 
tions to  fire  the  large  wooden  structure  occupied  by  the  Indian 
agent.  He  sent  to  the  post  for  aid.  Lieut.  Crawford  was  dis- 
patched with  about  thirty  men.  The  resolute  bearing  of  this 
small  force  held  the  Indians  for  a  while  in  check,  and  by  ener- 
getic persuasion  on  the  part  of  Red  Cloud,  Sitting  Bull,  and  other 
chiefs,  they  were  induced  to  relinquish  their  design.  Great 
credit  is  due  to  Lieut.  Crawford  for  his  courageous  attitude  on 
this  occasion,  as  the  odds  against  him  in  case  of  battle  were  fearful. 

The  general  danger  was  greatly  increased  at  this  time  by  the 
presence  in  the  neighborhood  of  an  extraordinary  number  of 
Indians,  gathered  to  obtain  their  annuities.  Their  numbers  did 
not  probably  fall  short  of  13,000.  They  were  encamped  within 
a  radius  of  ten  miles  around  the  agency.  There  were  about 
9,000  of  Red  Cloud's  band,  the  Ogallallas;  the  Cut-Off  band  under 
Little  Wound,  the  Arapahoes  under  their  chief  Friday,  of  whom 
there  are  romantic  stories  told  which  there  is  not  space  for  here. 
Besides  these  there  were  about  3,000  Northern  Indians,  of  the 
wilder  tribes,  Minneconjous,  Uncpapas,  and  Sansarcs,  who  boast 
that  they  have  never  eaten  white  man's  bread  ;  who  fought  Gen. 
Custer  in  the  Yellowstone  expedition.  These  Indians  refused  to 
be  registered,  having  a  superstition  about  being  counted.  The 
orders  from  "Washington  forbade  the  issue  of  annuities  to  any  ex- 


262  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

cept  those  who  were  registered.  Cheyennes  were  there,  sulky  be- 
cause they  had  been  ordered  further  south.  The  Arapahoes  were 
fresh  from  their  fight  and  losses  in  the  battle  on  Powder  river 
with  Lieut.  Bates.  Outlaws,  renegades  and  bad  Indians,  swelled 
the  numbers  that  surrounded  the  agency,  and  made  the  neighbor- 
hood unquiet,  not  to  say  dangerous.  An  incident  will  illustrate 
the  real  temper  of  the  class  that  claim  to  be  good  Indians. 
Within  gunshot  of  the  agency  a  teamster,  whom  Prof.  Marsh 
had  noticed  a  few  minutes  before  busily  engaged  in  cooking  his 
supper,  was  indiscreet  enough  to  leave  his  rifle  a  few  steps  away. 
A  young  Indian  brave  passed  the  professor  on  horseback,  and 
seeing  him  well  armed,  gave  him  a  respectful  salutation.  Not 
so  with  the  teamster;  the  weakness  of  his  position  was  appre- 
hended by  the  brave  at  a  glance.  In  less  time  than  it  takes  to 
tell  it,  the  Indian  rode  between  the  teamster  and  his  rifle,  and 
snatching  up  the  latter,  made  off,  pointing  a  pistol  backward  in 
defiance.  The  despoiled  teamster  ran  up  to  the  camp,  and  was 
very  free  in  the  use  of  "  cuss-words ;  "  but  it  was  the  general 
opinion  that  he  might  be  considered  fortunate  in  having,  while 
he  lost  his  gun,  preserved  his  hair. 

In  short  the  whole  vicinity  was  alive  with  Indians,  their  families, 
and  their  ponies ;  they  had  with  them  their  entire  possessions, 
and  their  lodges  diversified  the  landscape  in  every  direction.  It 
was  impossible  to  move  even  a  few  paces  without  encountering 
Indians,  Indians  everywhere.  The  agent  at  the  post  recommended 
that  a  guard  should  be  selected  from  these  warriors  to  accompany 
the  expedition,  and  very  soon  assembled  a  council  of  leading 
chiefs  to  discuss  the  matter.  As  soon  as  they  were  brought  to- 
gether, it  became  evident  that  they  mistrusted  the  intentions  of 
the  bone-hunters,  as  stated  by  the  agent.  Instead  of  waiting 
some  moments,  as  they  usually  do  after  the  object  of  a  council 
has  been  stated,  White  Tail,  one  of  the  principal  chiefs,  sprang 
at  once  to  his  feet  and  harangued  the  audience,  recounting  pre- 
vious grievances  and  declared  that  the  proposed  bone-seeking 
was  merely  a  ruse  to  begin  digging  for  gold  and  invading  the 
Black  hills  region.  His  speech  evidently  conveyed  the  senti- 
ments of  the  other  chiefs ;  they  listened  intently,  giving  vent  to 


A  PERILOUS  FOSSIL  HUNT.  263 

applause  and  sympathy  with  guttural  ejaculations  of  "  How ! 
How !  "  But  a  speech  from  Prof.  Marsh,  through  the  medium  of 
an  interpreter,  promising  that  their  just  complaints  should  be 
heard  at  Washington,  stating  specifically  the  objects  of  the  ex- 
pedition, and  holding  out  the  prospect  of  pay  for  Indian  services 
in  bone-hunting,  turned  the  scale  at  once.  Consent  was  obtained 
for  the  expedition  to  proceed,  but  coupled  with  an  agreement  to 
take  a  selected  guard  of  young  warriors.  The  nominal  object  of 
this  guard  was  to  be  a  protection  against  Northern  Indians  who 
were  encamped  across  the  White  river ;  the  real  intent  was  to 
keep  watch  on  the  proceedings  of  the  bone-hunters.  Sitting 
Bull,  one  of  the  most  influential  chieftains,  was  to  select  the 
guard,  and  himself  to  go  at  their  head.  Prof.  Marsh  was  to  let 
Sitting  Bull  know  when  he  was  ready  to  move  forward. 

The  next  day  three  or  four  inches  of  snow  fell ;  this  itself  un- 
fortunately delayed  the  expedition.  Meanwhile  the  annuities 
were  issued  to  the  Indians,  and  this  quite  changed  the  aspect  of 
affairs.  Having  got  their  annuities,  the  Indians  were  no  longer 
on  their  good  behavior  ;  they  could  raid  around  for  another  year. 
There  is  at  best  always  a  great  deal  of  dissatisfaction  among  them 
after  the  annuities  are  issued,  but  even  those  who  had  got  all  they 
hoped  for  exhibited  a  sauciness  in  marked  contrast  with  their 
previous  demeanor.  In  frontier  phrase,  "  the  Indians  didn't  care 
a  cuss  for  Uncle  Sam."  The  bone-hunting  expedition  was  dis- 
cussed in  every  lodge.  They  all  arrived  at  one  conclusion,  that 
the  pretense  of  seeking  fossils  was  much  "  too  thin."  The  chief 
of  the  bone-hunters  was  certainly  in  search  of  gold. 

Quite  unaware  of  the  change  of  sentiment  the  expedition  went 
on  with  its  preparations,  and  on  the  second  morning  after  the 
issue  of  annuities,  broke  camp  and  proceeded  to  the  agency,  ex- 
pecting to  get  the  Indian  guard.  The  whole  party,  including 
the  soldiers,  were  drawn  up  ready  for  the  start.  To  reach  the 
agency  they  had  to  pass  between  several  villages  composed 
of  Indian  lodges.  The  sight  of  the  soldiers  and  the  wagons 
excited  the  Indians.  They  gathered  in  great  numbers  about  the 
agency.  They  were  armed  quite  as  well  as  our  soldiers,  with 
breech-loading  rifles  and  revolvers  of  the  most  recent  patterns. 


264  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Sitting  Bull  declared  that  the  young  men  promised  as  a  guard 
refused  to  go,  being  afraid  of  the  Northern  Indians.  Red  Cloud, 
when  Prof.  Marsh  appealed  to  him,  said  that  his  young  men 
believed  the  object  of  the  search  was  gold,  not  bones,  and  the 
listening  crowd  approved  his  words.  Pretty  Crow,  a  chief  of 
note,  suddenly  precipitated  a  crisis  by  shouting  :  "  The  white 
men  are  going  into  our  country  to  find  gold  ;  we  must  stop  them 
at  once."  A  cry  of  warning  was  given.  The  women  and  children 
instantly  started  and  ran  out  of  harm's  way.  Guns  were  pointed 
at  the  party  on  every  side,  and  a  line  of  mounted  Indians  formed 
on  their  front  and  rear.  In  all  directions  runners  were  seen 
galloping  off  to  the  villages  and  calling  together  the  warriors. 
The  Indians  outnumbered  the  expedition  at  least  thirty  to  one. 
A  single  shot,  or  the  order  "Forward!"  would  have  brought 
down  their  fire. 

To  push  on  under  such  circumstances  would  have  been  mad- 
ness.    The  agent  and  the  friendly  chiefs  pointed  out  to  Prof. 
Marsh  that  the  presence  of  the  soldiers  aggravated  the  excite- 
ment of  the  Indians.     There  was  but  one  thing  to  do  with  safety ; 
that  was  to  withdraw.     The  entire  expedition  turned  about  and 
retreated  to  Camp  Robinson,  a  distance  of  one  and  a  half  miles. 
It  is  not  worth  while  here  to  repeat  the  jeers  which  this  move- 
ment elicited  from  the  Indians;  they  showered  insults  on  the 
retreating  party ;  the  language  of  signs  is  never  more  efficient 
than  for  such  a  purpose,  and  it  was  freely  used.     Bad  as  were 
these  insults,  they  were  preferable  to  bullets.     The  rest  of  the 
day  was  spent  in  consultations.     The  advice  of  Mr.  J.  "W.  Dear 
and  his  assistance  proved  of  great  service  to  the  party.     On  the 
following  day  beef  was  issued  by  the  agent  to  the  bands  entitled 
to  it.     Meanwhile,  as  a  result  of  many  consultations,  two  con- 
clusions were  arrived  at.     1.  That  something  must  be  done  to 
win  the  consent  of  the  Indians.     2.  That  a  feast  given  by  Prof. 
Marsh  and  a  few  presents  to  leading  chiefs  were  the  most  promis- 
ing means  of  attaining  consent.     The  professor  was  becoming 
very  much  disgusted  with  councils  and  talks,  but  decided  to  have 
another  one. 

On  the  day  after  the  beef  issue  the  feast  was  given.     The 


A  PERILOUS  FOSSIL  HUNT. 


265 


order  of  precedence  is  as  well  established  on  these  occasions  as 
at  a  European  court.  Only  the  more  eminent  chiefs  were  admitted ; 
the  following  were  among  them  :  Red  Cloud,  Red  Dog,  Old  Man 
Afraid  of  his  Horses,  Spider  (a  brother  of  Red  Cloud),  Sword 
(son-in-law  of  Red  Cloud),  Sitting  Bull,  Pawnee  Killer,  Conquer- 
ing Bear,  Friday,  American  Horse,  Torn  Belly,  Red  Leaf,  Rocky 
Bear,  Little  Wound,  Three  Bears,  White  Tail,  Young  Man 
Afraid  of  his  Horses,  Stabber,  Hand,  Pretty  Crow,  and  some 
30  others  of  less  note.  The  feast  was  given  in  one  of  the  largest 
lodges,  and  every  detail  of  Indian  etiquette  was  strictly  observed. 
At  its  close,  after  Prof.  Marsh  had  again  stated  the  object  and 
character  of  the  expedition,  a  reluctant  consent  was  again  ac- 
corded, with  the  warning  that  the  Minneconjous  were  likely  to 
kill  the  professor  if  he  crossed  the  White  river.  A  band  of 
scouts  was  promised  under  the  leadership  of  Sword,  whose  influ- 
ence is  little  less  than  that  of  his  father-in-law,  Red  Cloud.  It 
was  again  left  with  Prof.  Marsh  to  name  the  hour  for  starting, 
all  else  being  apparently  provided  for. 

Fearing  that  a  consent 
coupled  with  so  much 
hesitation  might  prove 
unavailable,  the  profes- 
sor resolved  to  test  it, 
and  sent  word  quietly, 
late  in  the  night  after 
the  feast,  to  his  inter- 
preters and  guides,  to  be 
ready  the  next  morning. 
The  dread  of  the  Min- 
necoujous  and  Unc- 
papas  overcame  the 
blandishments  of  the 
feast.  Indian  scoutes, 
guides,  and  interpreters 
all  alike  refused  to  go. 

MAP  OF  THE  REGION  OF  FOSSIL  DISCOVERIES.      Disappointed  and  not  a 
little  exasperated  by  these  repeated  delays,  Prof.  Marsh  resolved 


t-FtReno 


DAKOTA 

^Harney's  Peak 


266  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

upon  the  most  extraordinary  move  of  this  expedition.  He  de- 
cided to  give  the  Indians  the  slip.  That  night,  shortly  after  mid- 
night, he  carried  out  this  intention.  Marching  down  between 
the  Indian  villages  as  silently  as  possible,  the  expedition  sought 
the  White  river  at  the  only  spot  where,  for  many  miles,  it  is  forda- 
ble.  The  Indian  dogs  barked  furiously  as  the  party  defiled  be- 
tween the  lodges,  but  fortunately  their  owners  slept.  If  the 
expedition  had  been  attacked  at  this  time,  their  case  would  have 
been  hopeless.  It  was  a  bitter  night,  and  after  crossing  the 
river,  as  they  ascended  the  highlands,  the  cold  was  so  intense 
that  those  on  horseback  had  to  dismount  and  walk  to  keep  from 
freezing. 

The  stolen  march  was  soon  discovered.  By  daylight  scouts 
could  be  seen  riding  from  village  to  village  giving  the  alarm. 
Before  the  bone  region  was  reached,  Indian  sentinels  on  horse- 
back, posted  on  the  high  buttes,  were  watching  the  party.  Both 
on  account  of  the  cold  and  the  danger,  the  march  was  made  with 
rapidity.  On  arriving  at  the  locality,  a  position  for  the  camp 
was  chosen  by  Lieut.  "W.  L.  Carpenter,  of  great  natural  strength, 
flanked  by  ravines.  But  the  field  of  research  included  a  circuit 
of  ten  miles,  mainly  in  a  deep  gorge.  From  the  highest  buttes 
in  the  vicinity,  Harney's  peak  was  visible.  The  party  went  to 
work  immediately  on  their  arrival  on  the  grounds ;  in  fact  the 
weather  was  so  intensely  cold  that  work  became  a  necessity. 
They  could  not  sit  on  the  ground  to  dig ;  moving  about  was 
necessary  to  keep  from  freezing.  As  fast  as  fossils  were  secured, 
they  were  heaped  together,  and  piles  of  stones  were  placed  to 
mark  the  localities  of  the  bones,  in  the  event  of  a  snow-storm. 
For  several  days  this  bitter  cold  continued.  The  frugal  meal 
rarely  included  water,  ice-water  ceasing  to  be  a  luxury.  When 
a  tumbler  was  filled,  its  contents  rapidly  froze  solid,  and  before 
the  table  in  the  tent  could  be  set,  it  was  advisable  to  punch  with 
a  fork  the  ice  that  was  forming  in  the  glasses,  and  drink  what 
remained  fluid  as  quickly  as  possible.  The  bearded  members  of 
the  party  were  festooned  with  icicles,  like  the  Vikings  of  old, 
and  had  to  break  holes  under  their  mustaches  to  put  food  in. 
During  this  exceptionally  cold  weather,  there  were  four  officers 
and  many  soldiers  severely  frost-bitten,  but  none  of  the  bone- 


A  PERILOUS  FOSSIL  HUNT.  267 

hunting  party  suffered  injury,  probably  because  they  were  so 
actively  employed. 

At  length  the  cold  moderated  and  there  came  a  snow  storm. 
The  places  marked  by  piles  of  rock  were  then  the  scene  of  re- 
newed labors.  Brooms  made  of  bushes  and  grass  were  employed 
at  these  points  to  brush  away  the  snow.  Meanwhile,  in  spite  of 
the  cold,  the  Indians  had  kept  their  mounted  sentinels  on  the 
neighboring  hills,  watching  the  operations  of  the  party.  One 
night  some  Indians  attempted  to  surprise  the  camp ;  its  guard? 
instead  of  shooting  the  approaching  savages,  awakened  the 
members  of  the  expedition.  The  Indians  perceiving  that  the 
camp  was  alarmed,  withdrew.  This  was  far  better  than  shooting 
would  have  been,  since  if  an  Indian  had  been  shot,  the  act  would 
have  drawn  down  vengeance  on  the  party.  Occasionally  in  the 
daytime  a  few  Sioux  dropped  in  with  proffers  of  friendship, 
probably  to  obtain  a  nearer  look  at  the  work  of  the  expedition. 
When  success  was  well  nigh  assured,  and  the  labor  of  collecting 
was  nearly  completed,  there  were  fears  that  a  snow-storm  which 
was  threatened  would  check  the  work.  A  more  serious  cause 
for  alarm  was  found  in  the  representations  of  a  party  of  Indians, 
headed  by  Spider  and  Sword,  who  came  out  to  forewarn  the 
expedition  of  its  immediate  dangers.  They  had  ascertained  that 
the  Northern  Indians  had  taken  their  wives  and  children  to  the 
Black  hills,  and  were  coming  to  make  an  attack  on  the  camp. 
There  was  good  reason  to  expect  the  attack  that  night.  To 
throw  the  specimens  into  the  wagons  and  rattle  off  with  them 
unpacked  was  simply  to  break  them  to  pieces.  To  pack  them  at 
night,  burning  lights  in  the  tents,  would  be  to  invite  an  attack ; 
the  Indian  asks  no  better  mark  for  a  shot  at  long  range,  than  a 
lighted  tent.  Great  as  was  the  risk  of  remaining,  Prof.  Marsh, 
after  due  consultation  with  the  officers  in  command  of  the  escort, 
decided  to  stay  long  enough  to  pack  properly.  The  expedition 
broke  camp  the  next  day,  and  not  too  soon ;  subsequent  reports 
state  that  a  large  war  party  of  Northern  Indians  scoured  the  Bad 
lands  on  the  following  day,  in  a  vain  search  for  the  Bone-hunt- 
ing chief  and  his  band,  then  en  route  for  New  Haven. 

On  his  return  to  the  agency,  Red  Cloud  was  among  the  first 
to  welcome  Prof.  Marsh.  Some  of  the  chiefs  to  show  their  good 


268  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

will,  proposed  to  give  a  dog-feast  in  his  honor,  the  tender  canine 
being  considered  by  them  a  special  delicacy.  The  professor  has 
eaten  a  variety  of  Indian  viands  and  frontier  dishes,  ranging  from 
mule  meat  to  grasshopper  short-cake,  and  would  doubtless  have 
partaken  of  fricaseed  puppy,  but  for  his  haste  to  return.  More- 
over, his  previous  banquets  had  proved  somewhat  expensive,  and 
it  was  understood  that  there  should  be  a  quid  pro  quo  on  his  part, 
which  might  have  made  his  second  joint  of  bow-wow  a  costly 
dish.  He  sent  his  regrets  and  pleaded  a  previous  engagement. 

Did  the  results  ob- 
tained justify  the 
expenditure,  the 
time,  the  danger  ? 
Yes,  amply.  The 
bones  obtained  are 
those  of  tropical 
animals,  of  the  mi- 
ocene  era.  There 
are  nearly  two  tons 

SKULL  OP  BRONTOTHERIUM — TOP  VIEW.  of    these    fossils  ; 

most  of  them  are  rare  specimens,  illustrative  of  entire  families  of 
quadrupeds,  of  which  all  that  is  known  has  been  ascertained 
within  a  very  few  years  ;  some  of  the  bones  are  those  of  animals 
entirely  new  to  science.  The  brontotherium  is  one  of  the  larger 
quadrupeds  whose  remains  are  entombed  in  the  bed  of  this  mio- 
cene  lake.  It  was  as  large  as  an  elephant,  and  bore  a  general 
resemblance  of  form  to  that  animal,  but  differed  in  many  essen- 
tial particulars.  Its  shorter  limbs  were  like  those  of  the  rhi- 
noceros ;  its  nose  was  adorned  with  a  pair  of  huge  horns,  placed 
crosswise.  Its  skull  is  a  yard  in  length.  It  had  no  tusks,  or 
long  proboscis,  such  as  the  elephant  possesses ;  but  its  nose  was 
probably  elongated  and  flexible,  like  the  snout  of  a  tapir.  In 
fact  its  head  and  neck  were  so  long  that  it  had  no  need  of  an 
elephantine  proboscis.  These  animals  must  have  lived  together 
in  herds.  Probably  their  remains  were  washed  into  the  lake  by 
a  freshet,  and  thus  were  buried  in  the  mud  with  which  the  lake 
was  finally  filled,  which  now  has  hardened  into  stone.  Among 
other  remains  found  are  those  of  animals  nearly  allied  to  the 


A  PERILOUS  FOSSIL  HUNT.  269 

rhinoceros,  the  camel,  and  the  horse  of  to-day.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  burden  this  page  with  their  scientific  names,  which  would 
convey  no  ideas  of  their  form  or  characteristics  to  most  readers. 
The  stratum  in  which  the  fossils  lay  was  of  the  lowest  miocene, 
and  could  only  have  been  reached  by  the  upper  miocene  and  the 
pliocene  above  that,  having  been  washed  away  by  a  water-course 
in  this  canon.  Hence  the  locality  of  the  fossils  was  narrow,  and 
the  expedition  was  able  to  get  at  and  remove  them  entirely.  A 
careful  examination  of  the  surrounding  region  showed  that 
nowhere  else  had  any  watercourse  cut  deep  enough  to  lay  bare 
this  stratum. 

Aside  from  the  novel  points  obtained  concerning  specific  fossils, 
the  expedition  has  made  an  important  determination  respecting 
the  geology  of  the  region.  The  fact  was  ascertained  that  the 
miocene  lake  was  of  more  limited  extent  than  has  hitherto  been 
asserted,  although  larger  than  any  two  great  lakes  of  the  north- 
west at  the  present  day  would  be  if  combined  in  one.  Its  northern 
limit  was  the  southern  slope  of  the  Black  Hills;  its  western 
margin  the  Rocky  mountains ;  its  southern  limit  near  the  northern 
line  of  Kansas.  Long  after  this  lake  was  filled  and  dried,  another 
tropical  lake  covered  the  same  region,  having  the  same  bounda- 
ries at  the  north  and  west,  but  extending  southward  even  to 
Texas.  The  sands  and  clay  deposits  of  this  more  recent  lake 
basin  are  of  the  pliocene  age ;  they  are  of  great  thickness,  in 
some  places,  not  less  than  1,500  feet.  ISTo  inconsiderable  part  of 
the  beds  which  Prof.  Hayden  has  regarded  as  belonging  to  the 
miocene  or  lower  lake  formation  proves  to  be  of  the  pliocene  or 
upper  lake,  the  true  miocene  being  visible  in  occasional  depres- 
sions where  the  pliocene  has  been  washed  away.  All  or  nearly 
all  the  high  table  lands  from  the  White  river  to  the  Arkansas 
are  formed  of  the  deposits  of  the  pliocene  lake  ;  it  has  proved 
rich  in  organic  remains,  especially  in  fossil  horses  ;  but  all  the 
animals  found  in  it  differ  from  those  of  the  lake  below  as  well  as 
from  those  now  living.  Many  obscure  and  some  contested  points 
in  science  will  be  determined  by  the  material  which  Prof.  Marsh's 
expedition  of  1874  has  gathered,  and  the  Indians  have  already 
found  compensation  for  their  "  medicine  "  ravished  to  adorn  the 
shelves  of  Yale's  new  museum. 


INDIA  N  AFFAIRS  AR  0  UND  DETR  OIT  IN  1 706. ' 
TRANSLATED  FROM  A  FRENCH  Ms.  BY  COL.  CHARLES  WHITTLESEY. 

[These  transcripts,  brought  with  other  historical  papers  from  Paris  by  Gen.  Lewis  Cass,  are  BO 
negligently  made,  on  poor  paper  and  in  a  hurried  chirography ;  that  it  is  frequently  difficult  to  read 
them.  They  give  a  vivid  idea  of  Indian  ferocity,  duplicity  and  cruelty,  depicted  by  one  of  their  own 
number ;  from  personal  observation.  It  is  not  known  that  this  remarkable  speech ;  or  the  reply  of 
Vaudreuil,  have  before  this  appeared  in  print.] 

SPEECH  OF  M1SKOUAK1,  BROTHER  OF  JEAN  LE  BLANC,  AN  OTTAWA  OF  DE- 
TROIT, WHO  CAME  FROM  MACKINAW  TO  THE  MAN01R  MENARD*  TO  MONSIEUR 
THEMARQU1SDE  VAUDREUIL  SEPTEMBER  26<A,  1706. 

My  father,  you  will  be  surprised  by  the  bad  affairs  that  I  am 
about  to  inform  you  of  on  the  part  of  Pesant,  and  of  Jean  Le 
Blanc  touching  what  has  passed  at  Detroit.  I  desire  you  my 
father  to  open  to  me  your  door,  as  to  one  of  your  children,  and 
listen  to  what  I  have  to  say. 

When  I  left  Mackinaw,  my  father,  our  old  men  did  not  expect 
me  to  come  so  far  as  this  place,  hoping  you  would  be  still  at 
Montreal.  The  time  is  short  for  me  to  return.  I  desire  you  to 
be  willing  to  listen  to  me. 

Listen  —  The  Ottawa  nations  who  were  at  Detroit,  the  Kikia- 
kous  the  Sinagoes  and  the  nation  DuSables  have  been  killed,  and 
such  as  have  returned  to  Mackinaw,  came  in  the  greatest  distress. 
It  is  the  Miamis,  my  father,  who  have  killed  us. 

The  reason  we  were  obliged  to  fight  the  Miamis  is,  that  having 
gone  to  war  against  the  Sioux,  as  we  have  said  to  Sieur  Bourmont, 
we  had  been  informed  by  a  Potawatomie  encamped  near  the  fort 
of  the  Hurons,  that  the  Miamis,  who  M7ere  at  Detroit,  had  resolved 
to  allow  us  to  depart  and  march  three  days,  after  which  they 
would  attack  our  village,  and  eat  our  women  and  children.  My 
father,  we  were  unable  to  comprehend,  and  you  yourself  will  be 
surprised,  as  well  as  we,  when  you  know  that  Quarante  Sous, 
who  was  employed  by  Le  Sieur  La  Mothe  to  bring  all  the  nations 
to  Detroit,  made  use  of  this  pretext,  to  give  them  wampum  pri- 


J  Reprinted  from  Tract  No.  8,  Western  Reserve  and  Northern  Ohio  Historical  Society  (Cleveland,  O.), 
December,  1871.    Revised  by  the  translator  for  the  Indian  Miscellany. 
9  The  Manoir  Menard  is  presumed  to  be  near  Quebec. 


INDIAN  AFFAIRS  AROUND  DETROIT  IN  1706.         271 

vately,  to  engage  them  to  destroy  us.  I  have  not  come,  my  father, 
to  lie  to  you,  I  have  come  to  speak  the  truth.  You  will  do  after 
this  what  shall  please  you. 

"We  have  learned  by  a  Pottowatomie  named ,  who 

married  a  Miami,  that  the  Miamis  would  eat  our  villagers. 
Upon  this  news,  my  father,  the  war  chiefs  of  three  nations  of 
Ottawas  with  whom  we  had  set  out,  held  a  council,  and  concluded 
that  we  should  not  deliberate  upon  an  affair  of  this  consequence 
without  the  consent  of  Pesant  and  of  Jean  Le  Blanc,  who  are 
their  principal  chiefs,  and  who  were  sent  for  at  once.  Le  Pesant 
and  Jean  Le  Blanc,  after  having  heard  the  news  told  us  by 

the ,  concluded  by  stamping  his  foot,  that  since  the  Miamis 

had  resolved  to  kill  and  boil  us,  it  was  necessary  to  forestall 
them. 

When  Pesant  had  said  it  was  necessary  to  strike,  we  soon  saw, 
and  Jean  Le  Blanc  first  of  us  all,  that  he  was  going  to  do  a 
wicked  thing,  but  no  person  dared  contradict  him,  on  account 
of  his  influence  and  because  we  should  then  have  made  ourselves 
contemptible,  in  the  eyes  of  the  young  men.  My  father,  my 
brother  and  myself  inquired  what  Pesant  thought  of  striking, 
while  our  people  were  divided.  Some  were  at  war  with  the 
Hurons,  some  at  Montreal,  and  what  would  the  commandant  at 
Detroit  say  if  we  struck  at  his  gate. 

"We  said  thus  to  Pesant,  but  he  would  not  listen.  It  is  he,  my 
father,  who  has  caused  all  the  misfortunes  that  have  happened. 

Jean  Le  Blanc,  my  father,  would  have  come  vith  me  but  being 
stripped  of  everything,  and  not  daring  to  come  as  a  malefactor 
he  told  me  to  come,  and  know  your  mind.  He  would  have  come, 
my  father,  but  according  to  our  custom  during  all  the  time  we 
were  at  war,  being  at  Detroit ;  he  had  given  the  Sieur  Bourmont 
all  that  we  had,  thinking  it  more  safe  there,  than  in  our  fort,  and 
in  consequence  of  the  misfortunes  that  have  happened,  since  our 
departure  to  the  war  with  the  Sioux,  it  remains  there,  and  all  I 
can  do  is  to  offer  you  this  wampum,  on  the  part  of  my  nation, 
which  is  all  I  have,  and  have  taken  this  from  my  pouch. 

According  to  our  resolution,  we  resumed  the  way  to  our  fort, 
and  as  we  approached  the  fort  of  the  Hurons,  we  found  eight 


272  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Miami  chiefs,  who  were  going  there  to  a  feast.  As  we  met  them 
Pesant  said,  behold  our  enemies.  These  are  the  men  which  wish 
to  kill  us.  Since  there  are  the  leaders,  it  is  necessary  to  rid  our- 
selves of  them,  and  thereupon  made  a  cry  as  a  signal,  encourag- 
ing us  to  let  none  of  them  escape.  At  the  first  cry  no  person 
moved.  But  Pesant  having  made  a  second,  as  we  marched  along 
on  each  side  of  the  way,  and  as  we  were  in  the  midst,  we  fired ; 
and  none  of  them  saved  themselves  but  Pamakona,  who  escaped 
to  the  French  fort. 

I  dare  tell  you  one  thing,  that  I  have  never  said  before,  and  it 
is,  that  he  is  a  strong  friend  of  mine.  I  made  a  signal  to  him 
before  the  discharge  to  withdraw,  and  it  is  thus  he  was  saved. 

After  those  were  killed,  our  young  men  rose  to  take  such  as 
might  remain  in  the  lodges,  and  as  LePesant  and  Jean  Le  Blanc 
could  not  go  as  fast  as  the  others,  I  was  one  of  the  first  to  reach 
there,  but  to  prevent  this  some  one  forced  me  between  the  French 
and  our  people. 

The  Miamis  being  camped  near  their  fort  when  I  arrived  I 
found  the  Miamis  had  withdrawn  into  the  fort  of  the  French, 
and  one  of  our  young  men,  a  chief,  had  been  killed,  and  that  our 
youth  in  despair  on  account  of  his  death,  resolved  to  burn  the 
fort.  I  threw  myself  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  many  times 
snatched  the  burning  arrows  repeatedly  imploring  them  with 
vehemence,  not  to  do  the  French  any  injury,  for  they  were  not 
connected  with  the  quarrel  we  had  with  the  Miamis. 

I  heard  during  this  time  a  voice  crying  there  is  a  Black  Robe 
(a  priest)  and  I  saw  my  brother  sending  the  Pere  Recolet  into  the 
fort,  having  not  harmed  him,  and  having  desired  him  to  say  to 
Sieur  Bourmont,  that  he  should  not  fire  upon  us,  nor  give  any 
ammunition  to  the  Miamis,  but  put  them  out  of  the  fort  and 
leave  us  alone. 

We  had  not  known,  my  father,  that  a  Pere  Recolet  and  the 
French  soldiers,  had  been  killed,  but  the  next  day  those  who 
had  fired  upon  them,  not  being  (illegible)  then  I  blamed  my 
brother  very  much,  that  he  had  not  detained  the  Recolet  father 
and  the  soldiers ;  who  replied  that  he  thought  they  would  be  more 
safe  there  than  in  our  fort,  on  account  of  the  irritation  among 
our  young  men,  for  the  death  of  two  chiefs  that  we  had  lost. 


INDIAN  AFFAIRS  AROUND  DETROIT  IN  1706.         273 

The  next  day,  my  father,  my  brother  took  a  flag  that  you  had 
given  him,  and  insisted  on  speaking  to  Monsieur  Bourmont,  de- 
siring him,  our  arms  reversed  all  around,  to  give  us  missionaries, 
an  opportunity  to  explain.  He  said  he  had  no  reply  for  us,  but 
that  the  Sieur  De  La  Foret,  whom  he  had  expected  early  in  the 
spring,  would  soon  arrive  with  five  canoes  when  we  could  give 
our  reasons.  Seeing  he  did  not  wish  to  listen  to  us,  we  were 
obliged  to  return  ;  and  that  night  our  young  men  determined  to 
burn  the  fort.  Our  old  men  were  embarrassed,  and  to  prevent 
them  passed  three  entire  days  in  council. 

After  having  been  three  days  in  council  Jean  Blanc  rose  and 
said  to  Pesant,  "  since  it  is  you  who  has  caused  all  this  difficulty 
what  do  you  say  ?  what  do  you  think  ?  As  for  me  I  say  we  are 
dead,  and  that  we  have  killed  ourselves  by  striking  the  Miamis, 
at  the  French  stockade.  In  turn  the  Miskouakies  and  the  Sina- 
goes  will  say  the  same  thing. 

As  soon  as  the  Sieur  De  Tonty  was  gone,  we  were  well  agreed 
that  affairs  were  becoming  embroiled,  of  which  there  were  sure 
signs  in  this  last  matter ;  since  the  Sieur  De  Bourmont  being 
able  to  arrange  everything  did  not  wish  to  listen  to  us,  referring 
us  always  to  the  arrival  of  the  Sieur  De  La  Foret. 

However  we  had  certain  signs  that  he  wished  to  fight  (illegible) 
for  he  put  swords  at  the  end  of  his  pike  staves.  We  continued 
some  time  to  have  parleys  with  him,  and  went  without  fear  to 
the  fort  of  the  Hurons,  believing  that  they  were  our  allies,  but 
for  fear  of  the  Miamis  we  always  went  in  canoes. 

My  father,  the  Hurons  called  the  Ottawa  Sinago,  and  said  to 
him,  "  My  brothers  it  is  a  long  time  that  we  have  been  brothers, 
and  that  together  we  have  fought  the  Iroquois.  When  we  speak 
to  you  we  speak  to  all  the  nations,  Outawase  (Ottawas),  Sacs, 
Sauteurs,Poutawatamies,  Saukies,  Chippeways  and  Mississaugies. 
Look  at  this  string  of  beads,  my  brothers,  I  take  it  out  for  you 
to  look  at.  It  is  a  long  time  our  old  men  have  preserved  it. 
Upon  this  string  there  is  seen  the  figures  of  men.  This  string 
(or  belt)  signifies  much.  It  is  never  shown  unless  we  give  life  or 
death  to  those  to  whom  we  speak.  I  return  it,  and  say  to  you 
on  the  part  of  the  French,  that  he  wishes  you  to  meet  him  at  the 
19 


274  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

feast.  It  will  not  be  in  the  lodges,  for  you  might  thus  have  ap- 
prehensions, but  it  will  be  near  this  spot,  on  the  prairie,  where 
the  French  flag  will  be  planted,  and  there  you  will  come  to  the 
feast." 

On  the  morrow,  the  day  of  the  feast  we  were  to  have,  Jean  Le 
Blanc  having  his  garden  near  the  place  where  the  French  flag 
was  planted,  was  walking  there  and  saw  a  number  of  the  French 
bring  wheat  and  throw  it  upon  a  sail  cloth,  spread  out  upon  the 
prairie.  The  Huron  women  did  the  same,  and  brought  the  wheat 
and  poured  it  upon  the  cloth.  Then  my  brother  thought  the 
Hurons  had  spoken  truly,  and  that  we  should  have  a  good  time, 
nevertheless  being  with  Pesant  they  reflected,  that  the  French 
had  never  been  willing  to  speak  to  them. 

It  might  be  that  under  the  name  of  this  feast,  the  Hurous 
would  betray  them,  and  give  the  Miamis  the  opportunity  of  at- 
tacking them,  while  their  women  and  children  were  gone  to  fetch 
the  wheat.  They  resolved  to  send  out  scouts  for  discovery  in 
the  woods,  and  four  young  men  departed,  who  returned  and  said, 
they  saw  many  ways  which  led  into  the  depths  of  the  forest,  and 
seemed  to  encircle  those  which  led  to  the  wheat.  As  some  of 
our  people  had  already  departed  we  caused  them  to  be  recalled 
seeing  clearly  it  was  a  bait  which  they  had  spread  for  us.  We 
then  knew  it  was  a  design  of  the  French,  of  the  Miamis,  as 
also  of  the  Hurons,  as  soon  as  we  should  leave  our  fort  to 
go  to  the  wheat  which  was  intended  for  us ;  and  when  they 
thought  as  we  were  very  hungry,  we  should  enjoy  ourselves 
very  much,  the  greater  part  of  the  Miamis  and  the  Hurons,  who 
were  in  the  thick  woods,  were  to  come  to  take  the  fort,  and  the 
other  portion,  composed  of  French,  Hurons  and  Miamis,  were 
concealed  in  the  glades  opposite  the  flag,  and  from  thence  would 
fall  on  us.  As  we  had  recalled  all  of  our  people,  and  no  one 
went  for  the  wheat,  they  were  much  deceived  on  their  part,  and 
the  Miamis  who  were  in  the  thick  wood,  thinking  that  we  had 
gone  out  of  our  fort,  or  at  least  a  great  part  of  us,  rushed  forward 
with  great  shouts  to  take  it.  Our  young  men  who  were  in  the 
bastion,  having  discovered  them  afar  off',  we  fought  them  all  day 
with  guns,  and  lost  one  of  our  men,  who  was  killed  by  a  woman. 


INDIAN  AFFAIRS  AROUND  DETROIT  IN  1706.        275 

In  the  evening  the  Miamis  returned,  without  our  being  able  to 
determine  how  many  of  their  people  were  killed.  In  returning 
they  met  Katalibou  and  his  brother,  whom  they  killed  and  scalped. 

The  Miamis  in  attacking  our  fort  took  the  precaution  to  form 
two  companies,  and  one  of  them  came  along  the  water,  where 
they  throw  away  sucli  of  our  canoes  as  they  found,  for  tlie  pur- 
pose of  depriving  us  of  the  means  of  escape. 

The  next  day,  my  father,  we  were  convinced  that  the  Hurons 
had  joined  the  Miamis.  They  came  together  to  attack  us  at  our 
fort,  and  this  day  more  of  the  Miamis  were  killed,  than  the  day 
before.  They  returned  again  the  next  day.  We  attacked  the 
Hurons,  who  undertook  to  overwhelm  us  with  injuries.  We 
had  so  little  powder  we  dare  not  fire,  though  we  had  some.  They 
took  new  life  since  Onontio  had  abandoned  (manuscripts  not 
legible  here). 

Cletart,  the  brother  of  Quarante  Sous,  said  then  that  our  young 
men,  indignant  at  the  injuries  that  the  Hurons  had  done  us, 
should  make  a  sortie,  and  we  fought  against  them  and  the  Miamis, 
a  long  time  out  of  the  fort.  The  Hurons  held  their  ground,  but 
the  Miamis  fled,  although  there  were  four  hundred  of  them. 

On  this  day  one  of  our  people  who  had  been  at  war  with  the 
Hurons  at  the  (not  legible),  arrived  at  our  fort,  and  said  that  all 
the  others  who  had  started  with  him  and  had  returned,  were 
bound  in  the  French  fort ;  that  the  Hurons  had  bound  them,  and 
that  they  had  sent  him  to  let  us  know  of  it ;  that  two  of  our  war 
allies  of  the  Hurons  were  prisoners  in  their  fort,  and  that  the 
rest  had  been  taken  to  the  French  fort,  for  what  reason  we  did 
not  know. 

The  next  day  the  Hurons  and  Miamis  came  again  and  attacked 
our  fort.  They  had  apparently  lost  some  person  of  consideration 
among  them.  They  shot,  before  they  left  one,  of  their  prisoners, 
who  was  one  of  our  allies. 

Some  time  after  the  Hurons  (Wyandots)  sent  for  the  relatives 
of  those  who  were  confined  in  the  French  fort,  saying  that  they 
well  remembered  what  we  had  done  to  them,  and  that  it  was  by 
way  of  reprisal  that  they  had  bound  our  people,  but  that  they 
did  not  wish  to  kill  them.  We  had  but  to  come  arid  cover  them 
according  to  custom.  We  caused  some  to  carry  blankets  thither, 


276  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

and  they  told  us  to  come  and  cover  them  to-morrow  (manuscripts 
defective),  we  observing  a  place  at  the  gate  of  the  French  fort 
where  the  cannon  was,  and  where  they  placed  poles. 

They  ordered  us  to  bring  presents  then,  according  to  the  favors 
they  were  granting  us.  Our  people,  believing  them  to  act  in 
good  faith,  returned,  and  each  one  exhausted  their  goods  and 
carried  them,  even  to  the  beads  of  our  children. 

Scarcely  had  we  put  on  the  poles  (or  pickets)  ten  pieces  of 
porcelain  beads,  twenty  kettles,  two  packs  of  beaver,  and  all  that 
we  had  brought,  when  Quarante  Sous  gave  his  hand  to  Jean 
Blanc.  At  this  moment  Jean  Blanc  received  a  shot,  and  at  the 
same  time  a  discharge  was  made  from  the  fort,  upon  us,  who 
being  there  in  good  faith,  were  without  arms,  relying  upon  the 
sincerity  of  the  French,  and  were  obliged  to  fly.  The  Hurons 
and  the  Miamis  having  made  a  sortie,  those  of  our  people  who 
remained  in  the  fort  came  to  the  assistance  of  those  who  fled,  and 
the  remainder  of  the  day  was  passed  in  fighting  on  both  sides. 
We  lost  in  this  treachery,  two  men,  killed  at  the  discharge  from 
the  French  fort,  and  five  wounded.  The  last  stroke  which  the 
Miamis  have  given  us,  my  father,  was  done  at  our  homes  by 
their  young  men.  There  they  killed  a  woman  and  took  another 
prisoner,  and  as  we  sent  after  them  to  know  what  they  would  do 
with  her,  our  people  heard  cries  in  the  French  fort  where  they 
were  burning  her. 

The  exhaustion  of  war  and  hunger,  obliged  our  people  to  send 
(not  legible)  one  of  our  chiefs  to  speak  to  the  Ouyatanons. 
Heretofore  the  Ouyatanons  (a  tribe  on  the  waters  of  the  Watash, 
a  Miami  tribe)  had  danced  with  him  the  calumet  of  peace.  Our 
people  employed  this  man  to  speak  to  the  Miamis.  He  said,  my 
father,  the  Ouyatanons  had  treated  us  as  sons  in  dancing  this 
calumet,  and  also  "  I  am  astonished  that  you  remain  so  long  to 
kill  us  at  our  palisades.  Art  thou  not  wrong  in  killing  us,  and 
dost  not  thou  kill  thyself  also,  hast  thou  no  pity  on  thy  young 
men." 

An  Ouyatanon  replied  "  that  it  was  not  his  tribe  who  had  done 
that,  but  it  was  the  Hurons  and  the  French  who  wished  to 
oblige  them  to  remain  until  the  Ottawas  should  perish  in  their 


INDIAN  AFFAIRS  AROUND  DETROIT  m  1706.        277 

fort  by  hunger,"  and  the  Ouyatanons  ceased  to  speak.  Having 
determined  to  return  the  slaves,  we  separated.  Two  of  our  people 
were  given  to  the  Ouyatanons,  two  were  given  to  the  nation  of 
the  Crane,  Miamis,  who  are  of  the  river  St  Josephs ;  one  was 
burnt  in  the  French  fort,  another  shot,  and  the  son  of  Aiontache 
a  Mississauga  saved  from  death  by  the  commandant  of  a  French 
fort.  There  was  one  of  our  men  married  to  a  woman  of  whom 
we  have  no  news.  The  two  others,  Sieur  De  La  Mothe  has  re- 
stored to  the  Mississaugas.  Behold  my  father  all  which  I  know, 
and  the  old  men  have  requested  me  to  say  to  you,  that  on  account 
of  all  the  treachery  that  the  Hurons  have  done  them,  it  is  with 
difficulty  they  can  restrain  their  young  men  from  going  against 
him,  so  long  as  he  remains  at  Detroit,  from  whence  we  have 
withdrawn  only  to  be  less  exposed. 

The  two  Ottowas,  my  father,  who  were  given  to  the  Ouyatanons 
saved  themselves  on  the  way  and  came  to  rejoin  us.  They  say 
they  were  not  misused  by  the  Ouyatanons.  They  report  that  the 
Miamis  have  in  killed  and  wounded  fifty  persons ;  and  we  have 
lost  twenty-six,  including  those  who  were  returned  from  the  wrar, 
and  those  the  Hurons  bound  through  treachery. 

My  father,  I  speak  in  the  name  of  all  nations,  Ottowas, 
Poutawotomies,  Saukis,  Outagamies,  Kickapous,  Quinepigs, 
Matamini,  Sauters  and  Mississaugas,  all  the  people  of  the  country 
bordering  upon  the  lakes,  in  short  of  all  our  allies,  and  of  their 
indignation  against  the  Hurons  for  the  treachery  they  have  done 
us.  They  desire  you  through  me  to  allow  us  to  fight  him.  I 
desire  you,  my  father,  to  tell  me  your  thoughts,  so  that  I  may 
report  the  same  to  our  people,  and  that  we  may  fully  know  each 
other's  wishes. 


REPLY  OF  MONSIEUR  DE  VAUDREUIL  TO  MISKOUAK1,  BROTHER  OF  JEAN  LE 
BLANC,  AN  OTTOWA  CHIEF  OF  THOSE  WHO  WERE  AT  DETROIT,  SEPTEMBER 
28,  1706. 

I  have  listened  quietly  Miskouaki  to  all  you  have  said,  and  al- 
though I  am  already  informed  of  what  has  passed  at  Detroit, 
could  not  fail  to  be  greatly  surprised  by  your  recital.  I  do  not 
reply,  because  it  does  not  appear  to  me  that  you  are  sent  by  all 


278  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

the  nations,  as  yon  sny ;  but  only  by  your  brother,  Jean  Le 
Blanc,  to  preoccupy  my  mind ;  and  for  this  purpose  you  left 
Mackinaw,  intending  to  remain  here.  It  is  only  the  arrival  of 
your  brother  that  has  given  you  a  desire  to  return.  However 
that  may  be,  I  am  not  sorry  to  have  seen  you,  and  am  glad  to 
hear  what  you  have  said,  touching  the  conduct  of  your  brother. 

You  wish  to  know  my  thoughts,  Miskouaki,  you  desire  me  to 
give  them  to  you.  Listen  to  me  well,  I  am  a  good  father,  and 
so  long  as  my  children  listen  to  my  voice,  no  evil  will  happen 
to  them.  You  have  proofs  of  this  in  what  happened  at  Detroit, 
and  if  Le  Pesant  and  Jean  Le  Blanc,  had  not  undertaken  anything 
without  knowing  my  wishes,  you  would  not  have  attacked  the 
Miamis.  You  would  not  have  killed  of  mine,  and  you  would 
not  have  been  in  the  distress  and  misery  where  you  are  now. 

We  have  been  killed,  Miskouaki,  and  until  I  see  all  the  nations 
whom  I  have  always  regarded  as  my  children,  come  here,  re- 
cognize their  fault  and  ask  pardon,  I  cannot  forget  that  I  have 
lost  at  Detroit  a  missionary  and  a  soldier,  who  are  of  value  among 
us. 

This  is  what  you  can  say  to  your  brother  and  to  all  the  nations, 
when  your  arrive  there.  I  have  seen  and  examined  the  speech 
you  have  delivered.  As  you  have  yourself  said  that  the  belt  you 
drew  from  your  pouch,  was  not  given  you  by  your  people  when 
you  departed,  I  return  it  to  you,  and  do  not  receive  it,  not  because 
I  despise  it  as  coming  from  you,  but  because  I  cannot  reply  to  it, 
since  it  does  not  come  directly  from  them,  and  I  am  pleased  to 
return  it  to  you  as  a  thing  that  belongs  to  you,  that  you  may  use 
it  to  accommodate  the  bad  affairs  which  might  happen. 

In  regard  to  what  has  passed  at  Detroit,  I  say  to  all  your  peo- 
ple that  I  stop  the  tomahawk,  and  prohibit  them  from  going  to 
war,  either  with  the  Hurons  or  Miamis,  or  any  one  else,  and 
order  them  to  remain  strictly  on  the  defensive,  until  I  am  better 
informed.  As  to  other  matters,  I  expect  news  daily  from 
M.  De  La  Mothe,  and  during  the  winter  I  shall  examine  all  you 
have  said,  and  that  which  he  shall  advise,  in  order  to  be  able  to 
regulate  affairs. 

If  the  recital  you  have  made  us  is  true,  as  a  consequence  of 


INDIAN  AFFAIRS  AROUND  DETROIT  IN  1706.        279 

the  present  state  of  things,  you  cannot  move  aside  very  far  in 
hunting  this  winter.  Your  people  will  be  able  to  come  here 
early  in  the  spring,  with  the  Frenchmen  I  leave  above,  to  know 
my  thoughts. 

This  is  what  they  should  have  done  this  year,  and  not  to  have 
sent  you  alone,  and  without  belts  on  the  part  of  all  the  nations. 
It  is  not  beads,  Miskouaki,  that  I  demand,  neither  presents  where 
my  children  have  disobeyed,  and  done  such  wrongs  as  you  have. 
The  blood  of  Frenchmen  is  not  paid  by  beaver  skins. 

It  is  constant  reliance  in  my  goodness  that  I  demand,  a  real 
repentance  of  faults  they  have  committed,  and  entire  resigna- 
tion to  my  will.  When  your  people  shall  be  in  this  state  of 
mind,  I  will  accomodate  everything  as  before  ;  but  for  this  it  is 
necessary  to  come  early  in  the  coming  spring,  or  at  least  a  part 
of  the  chiefs.  It  is  necessary  that  they  lead  here  all  the  French, 
and  that  your  young  men  assist  them  to  bring  down  their  furs. 

It  is  necessary  also  that  they  remain  quietly  upon  their  mats, 
without  going  to  war,  either  with  the  Hurons  or  the  Miamis  or 
others,  that  they  remain  entirely  on  the  defensive,  and  even  if 
they  are  attacked  at  home,  to  be  content  until  the  coming  year 
to  defend  themselves,  and  to  come  here  and  make  their  com- 
plaints to  me. 

These,  Miskouaki,  are  my  thoughts  and  it  is  thus  you  can  speak 
to  all  the  nations  on  my  part.  I  do  not  make  you  presents  for 
your  brothers  nor  the  other  chiefs,  it  not  being  natural  to  recom- 
pense children  when  in  a  state  of  disobedience  like  you.  I  take 
pity  however  on  you  on  account  of  the  trouble  you  have  been 
at,  and  the  confidence  you  have  shown  in  me.  I  give  you  a 
blanket,  a  shirt,  some  trinkets,  powder,  lead  and  tobacco,  to  ex- 
cite you  to  diligence  on  your  return  and  in  the  expectation  you 
will  behave  yourself  in  the  upper  country,  and  also  that  the 
father  Marest  will  report  to  me,  in  such  a  manner  that  I  shall 
have  consideration  for  you,  and  it  will  be  for  you  to  conduct  your- 
self, so  as  to  receive  evidences  of  my  goodness,  when  you  shall 
return  here  with  the  others. 


THE  ABORIGINAL  INHABITANTS  OF  CON- 
NECTICUT.^ 
BY  LUZEKNE  RAY. 

The  Indians  of  North  America,  when  they  first  became  known 
to  Europeans,  were  separated  into  subdivisions  almost  number- 
less. Every  prominent  feature  in  natural  scenery ;  the  river  — 
the  bay  —  the  mountain  —  gave  its  name  to  the  few  natives  that 
clustered  round  it.  Without  central  government ;  with  no  systems 
of  general  law,  and  no  very  definite  limits  of  territory;  the  sepa- 
rate fractions  of  the  race  presented,  at  first  view,  none  of  the 
external  marks  which  lead  at  once  to  a  wider  classification.  But 
a  longer  and  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  multitudinous 
tribes,  has  fully  established  the  fact,  that  a  few  great  classes  or 
families  embraced  them  all.  In  the  inquiry  before  us,  our  at- 
tention will  be  fixed,  for  the  most  part,  upon  one  of  these  fami- 
lies — upon  that,  namely,  which,  sometimes  called  the  Chippeway, 
is  best  known,  however,  by  its  French  name,  Algonquin.2 

The  Algonquin  tribes  were  once  the  most  numerous,  and  so 
far  as  numbers  can  give  strength,  the  most  powerful  in  North 
America.  Beginning  at  the  gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  their  territory 
ran  along  the  Atlantic  coast  as  far  south  as  southern  Virginia ; 
bounded  in  this  quarter  by  the  country  of  the  Cherokees  and 
Tuscaroras,  it  passed  westward  across  the  mountains,  reaching 
the  Mississippi  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  and  separated  by  the 
former  river  from  the  great  family  of  Dahcotas,  which  inhabits 
its  western  bank ;  from  this  point  advancing  northward,  it  em- 
braced the  present  states  of  Kentucky,  Illinois,  Indiana,  and 


1  Reprinted  from  The  New  Englander  (New  Haven),  for  July,  1843 . 

a  For  the  facts  and  statements  contained  in  this  article,  we  have  depended  mainly  upon  the  follow- 
ing works :  Trumbull's  History  of  Connecticut  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  Hutchinson's 
History  of  Massachusetts,  Mather's  Magnolia,  Adair's  North  American  Indians,  Gookin's  Historical 
Collections  of  the  Indians  in  New  England,  Wood's  New  England  Prospects,  Winslow's  Relation, 
and  Roger  Williams's  Key  to  the  Indian  Languages.  We  make  this  general  acknowledgment,  to 
avoid  the  tediousness  of  repeated  reference ;  but  in  all  cases  where  information  has  been  derived 
from  other  sources  than  these,  the  proper  credit  will  be  given  by  the  way. 


THE  ABORIGINAL  INHABITANTS  OF  CONNECTICUT.     281 

Michigan ;  the  territory  of  Wisconsin  ;  the  lakes  Michigan  and 
Superior  ;  and  penetrating  the  wild  regions  beyond  them,  found 
at  last  its  northern  limit  in  the  high  latitude  of  the  Great-Slave 
lake.  All  the  Indians  of  New  England  were  branches  of  the 
Algonquin  stock,  a  fact  which  rests  its  proof  upon  their  general 
resemblance  in  form  and  feature  ;  the  similarity  of  their  habits 
and  manners,  and  more  than  all,  the  radical  identity  of  the  lan- 
guages spoken  by  the  various  tribes. 

Historians  have  been  accustomed  to  reckon  five  principal 
Indian  nations  within  the  present  boundaries  of  New  England. 
This  enumeration,  however,  is  far  from  perfect,  as  it  makes  no 
mention  of  the  tribes  inhabiting  Maine,  and  fails  also  to  include 
a  considerable  number  of  the  smaller  and  less  important  clans 
which  were  scattered,  here  and  there,  over  the  other  New  Eng- 
land states.  These  five  nations  or  confederacies  were  as  follows  : 
the  Pawtuckets,  inhabiting  the  sea-coast  of  New  Hampshire  ;  the 
Massachusetts,  surrounding  the  bay  which  still  bears  their  name ; 
the  Pokanokets,  a  tribe  made  famous  by  the  exploits  of  their  re- 
nowned sachem,  Philip,  whose  territories  lay  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Plymouth  colony  ;  the  Narragansets,  occupying  a  part  of 
Rhode  Island,  and  finally,  the  Pequods.  These  last  were  almost 
wholly  within  the  limits  of  Connecticut,  and  they  were  destined 
to  fill  one  brief  but  terrible  chapter  of  the  history  of  the  state. 

At  the  first  settlement  of  the  country,  the  tribe  of  Pequods 
was  the  most  warlike  and  powerful  that  could  any  where  be  found 
east  of  the  Hudson  river.  The  pestilence  which  but  a  short  time 
before  had  spread  such  desolation  among  the  neighboring 
Indians ;  which  reduced  the  Pokanokets  to  five  hundred  war- 
riors ;  the  Pawtuckets  to  two  hundred  and  fifty,  and  left  scarcely 
one  hundred  men  among  the  once  numerous  Massachusetts  j1 
this  destroying  scourge  passed  lightly  over  the  country  of  the 
Pequods,  and,  certainly  not  for  any  virtues  in  them,  spared  this 
nation  of  ferocious  savages.  Not  to  this  fact  alone,  however, 
did  they  owe  their  relative  preeminence  among  the  natives,  for 
they  were  outnumbered  by  their  immediate  neighbors,  the  Narra- 
gansets,  with  whom  they  were  continually  at  war.  The  Narra- 


1  Historical  Memoir  of  Plymouth,  by  Baylies,  i,  45. 


282  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

gansets  also  surpassed  them  in  civilization,  if  such  a  word  can  be 
properly  applied  to  any  portion  of  the  Indian  race.  It  was  their 
bravery  and  ferocity  in  battle ;  their  love  of  warfare  and  cruelty 
to  their  captives,  which  made  the  very  name  of  Pequod  a  fearful 
sound  in  the  ear  of  every  native  whom  their  power  could  reach. 

The  tradition  is,  that  this  tribe  came  down  from  the  interior 
at  some  period  not  very  remote,  and  conquering  for  themselves 
the  fine  country  in  the  southeastern  part  of  Connecticut,  estab- 
lished their  chief  quarters  in  the  territory  now  occupied  by  the 
towns  of  New  London,  Groton,  and  Stonington.  When  the 
English  first  visited  the  state,  Sassacus,  the  chief  sachem  of  the 
Pequods,  held  his  royal  residence  in  a  large  fortress  on  a  com- 
manding hill  in  Groton,  from  whence  he  was  continually  making 
hostil'e  incursions  into  the  surrounding  country,  and  whither  he 
was  wont  to  retire,  whenever  he  could  not  safely  keep  the  field. 

Directly  north  of  the  Pequods,  and  separated  from  them  by 
uncertain  boundaries,  lay  the  country  of  the  Mohegan  tribe; 
the  only  one  which  from  first  to  last,  proved  friendly  to  the 
whites.  The  dominion  of  this  tribe  extended  to  the  northern 
limits  of  Connecticut,  including  by  conquest,  a  portion  of  the 
Nipmuck  territory,  which,  for  this  reason,  was  sometimes  called 
the  Mohegan  conquered  country.  The  numbers  of  the  Mo- 
hegan tribe  were  originally  small.  There  is  reason  indeed  to 
believe  that  it  was  no  more  than  a  fractional  portion  of  the 
Pequods,  living  in  separation  and  rebellion.  It  is  certain  at  least 
that  Uncas,  the  sachem  to  whose  talents  as  a  warrior  and  ruler, 
the  tribe  owed  its  subsequent  importance,  was  himself  of  Pequod 
origin,  and  that  he  married  a  Pequod  wife. 

Having  thus  ascertained  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  the  east- 
ern section  of  the  state,  we  pass  next  to  the  rich  and  beautiful 
valley  of  the  Connecticut.  Perhaps  no  other  part  of  the  United 
States,  certainly  none  in  New  England,  was  so  densely  populated 
as  this.  The  fine  meadows  which  lay  spread  out  on  each  side  of 
the  river,  were  easy  of  cultivation,  and  abundant  in  their  har- 
vests ;  the  river  itself  was  full  of  fish,  and  in  the  forests  which 
skirted  the  valley,  might  be  found  great  numbers  of  bears,  wolves, 
deer,  foxes,  and  such  other  wild  animals  as  the  Indian  hunted 
for  amusement,  or  sought  for  food. 


THE  ABORIGINAL  INHABITANTS  OF  CONNECTICUT.     283 

The  inhabitants  of  the  Connecticut  valley  were  known  among 
the  English  by  the  general  appellation  of  River  Indians.  There 
was,  however,  no  bond  of  political  connection  between  the  vari- 
ous tribes  included  by  this  single  name.  Each  was  governed  by 
its  own  chieftain,  independent  of  all  the  rest,  so  far  at  least  as 
any  government  was  found  necessary  or  possible.  In  the  ancient 
town  of  Windsor  alone,  there  were  no  less  than  ten  distinct 
sovereignties.  Perhaps  no  place  in  the  United  States,  of  equal 
territory,  could  count  so  many  Indian  inhabitants  as  "Windsor. 
They  were  also  numerous  in  Hartford  and  Wethersfield.  In 
East  Hartford,  upon  the  river  to  which  they  have  left  their  name, 
the  Podunks  could  muster  about  two  hundred  warriors.  In 
Middletown,  dwelt  the  Mattabeset  tribe,  and  in  Chatham,  on  the 
opposite  bank  of  the  river,  the  "Wongungs.  Lyme  was  occupied 
by  the  Nehantics,  and  East  Haddam,  then  called  Machemoodus, 
by  a  tribe,  whose  reported  intercourse  with  evil  spirits,  was  for- 
merly supposed  to  have  some  connection  with  the  celebrated 
Moodus  noises.  The  Indians  on  the  river  were  generally  well 
disposed  toward  the  English,  to  whom  they  looked  for  protection 
from  their  terrible  enemies,  the  Pequods  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
Mohawks  on  the  other. 

In  many  places  west  of  the  river  they  were  likewise  numerous. 
At  Guilford  there  was  one  small  tribe,  and  another  in  Branford 
and  East  Haven.  New  Haven  was  occupied  by  the  Quinnipiacks. 
They  were  also  scattered  in  considerable  numbers  along  the 
shores  of  the  sound,  in  the  direction  of  New  York,  at  Milford, 
Derby,  Stratford,  Norwalk,  Stamford  and  Greenwich.  Milford 
especially  was  full  of  them.  Back  in  the  interior  of  the  state 
they  had  but  few  settlements ;  their  dread  of  the  Mohawks  hav- 
ing driven  them  away  from  the  whole  western  border.  They 
were  found,  however,  as  far  west  as  Woodbury,  New  Hartford, 
and  Simsbury,  and  the  pleasant  banks  of  the  Tunkis  in  Farming- 
ton,  were  inhabited  by  a  warlike  tribe  whose  numbers,  according 
to  President  Stiles,  were  greater  than  those  of  any  other  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Connecticut.1 


1  Porter's  Historical  Discourse,  p.  26. 


284  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Allusion  has  been  more  than  once  made  to  the  Mohawks. 
Although  surrounded  "by  the  territory  of  the  Algonquins,  this 
tribe  belonged  to  another  and  a  hostile  race,  speaking  a  different 
language,  and  possessing  a  different  character  —  the  Huron-Iro- 
quois.  The  country  of  the  Iroquois  embraced  large  portions  of 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  the  greater  part  of  New  York,  together 
with  the  whole  peninsula  of  Upper  Canada.  Less  numerous 
than  the  surrounding  Algonquins,  but  far  more  bold  and  warlike, 
they  made  the  terror  of  their  name  felt  for  more  than  a  thousand 
miles  beyond  their  boundaries.  Accustomed  to  estimate  the 
glory  of  the  warrior  only  by  the  number  of  scalps  which  hung  in 
his  cabin,  they  were  ever  on  the  alert,  far  and  near,  to  snatch 
from  the  heads  of  their  enemies,  these '  ghastly  tokens  of  their 
prowess.  Departing  on  their  distant  expeditions,  not  usually  in 
large  numbers,  for  they  trusted  more  to  cunning  than  to  open 
force,  they  glided  unseen  through  the  closest  paths  in  the  forest, 
patiently  enduring  cold  and  hunger  and  fatigue,  they  wandered, 
sometimes  over  mountains  apparently  inaccessible,  sometimes 
along  the  beds  of  rivers,  that  they  might  leave  no  trail  behind 
them,  until  they  found  themselves  in  the  immediate  neighbor- 
hood of  the  enemy  they  sought.  There  they  awaited,  with 
patient  expectation,  the  favorable  moment  for  attack,  and  when 
it  came,  sudden  and  secret  as  the  lightning,  their  blows  were 
never  seen  before  they  fell.  When  their  object  was  accomplished, 
they  vanished  once  more  into  the  forest,  baffling  all  pursuit,  and 
leaving  no  token  of  the  foray,  save  the  ruin  which  they  had 
wrought. 

It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  the  warriors  of  this  daring 
nation  were  held  in  the  highest  fear  by  the  feebler  natives  of 
Connecticut.  /The  latter  had  no  confidence  in  themselves,  how- 
evermuch  superior  in  numbers,  when  opposed  to  their  more 
powerful  neighbors  ;  for  the  very  name  of  Mohawk  was  enough 
to  scatter  their  forces  in  a  moment.  All  the  tribes  west  of  the 
river  were  found  by  the  English  with  the  usual  marks  of  subjec- 
tion upon  them ;  paying  an  annual  tribute,  and  groaning  under 
the  capricious  cruelties  which  savage  masters  know  so  well  how 
to  inflict. 


THE  ABORIGINAL  INHABITANTS  OF  CONNECTICUT.     285 

"With  regard  to  the  total  number  of  Indians  in  Connecticut  at 
the  settlement  of  the  state,  nothing  now  can  be  certainly  known. 
Trumbull  has  reckoned  them  at  twenty  thousand,  an  estimate 
which  is  probably  not  very  far  from  the  truth.  Bancroft,  how- 
ever, gives  to  the  whole  Algonquin  race  a  population  of  only 
ninety  thousand ;  so  that  allowing  both  estimates  to  be  substan- 
tially correct,  Connecticut  must  have  been  populated  out  of  all 
proportion  to  the  rest  of  the  Algonquin  territory.  We  know, 
indeed,  that  Vermont  was  wholly  without  aboriginal  inhabitants  ; 
that  large  portions  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and  Massachusetts, 
were  in  the  same  condition,  and  that  from  some  cause  unknown, 
the  fruitful  fields  and  flowing  rivers  of  the  west  were  in  a  great 
measure  destitute  of  the  abundant  population  which  they  are  so 
well  calculated  to  sustain.  It  is  possible,  therefore,  that  the 
opinions  of  both  historians  may  be  correct,  although  they  make 
it  necessary  to  suppose  that  the  narrow  limits  of  Connecticut 
embraced  more  than  one-fifth  of  the  whole  population  of  the 
vast  Algonquin  country. 

The  origin  of  the  American  aborigines  has  been  a  favorite  sub- 
ject of  speculation  ever  since  the  discovery  of  the  continent.  The 
history  of  populating  the  various  theories  which  have  been  elabo- 
rated for  the  purpose  of  the  country  in  a  legitimate  manner,  would 
furnish  the  reader  with  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  amusement  or  of 
sorrow,  according  as  he  might  be  disposed  to  laugh  at  intellectual 
folly  or  to  weep  over  it.  But  we  have  neither  time  nor  inclina- 
tion to  enumerate  all  these  theories  —  two  or  three  of  them  may 
be  taken  at  random  to  set  forth  their  general  character. 

Some  writers  on  this  subject  have  supposed  the  aborigines  of 
America  to  be  descendants  of  the  Canaannites,  who  were  driven 
by  Joshua  out  of  the  promised  land.1  Some  profess  to  deduce 
their  origin  from  the  old  Norwegians  ;  excluding,  however,  Yuca- 
tan and  the  parts  adjacent,  which  according  to  this  theory  were 
peopled  by  Ethiopic  Christians,  thrown  upon  the  coast  by  storm 
or  otherwise.2  With  not  a  few  it  has  been  a  favorite  speculation, 


1  "Gomara  ct  Jean  de  Lery  font  descenclre  tons  I«B  Ameriquains  des  Canangens,   chasse  de  la 
terre  promise  par  JosuS." — Charlevoix:  Dissertation  sur  V origins  des  Ameriquains. 

3  Grotius ;  De  Origins  Gentium  Americanum.    In  his  opinion  respecting  Yucatan,  Grotius  fol- 
lows Peter  Martyr. 


286  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

that  the  American  Indians  are  the  pure-blooded  offspring  of  the 
lost  tribes  of  Israel  ;l  a  theory  which  is  likely  to  profit  little  by 
later  discoveries  of  the  same  wandering  race  in  other  parts  of 
the  globe.  Some  have  ventured  to  maintain  that  the  separation 
which  now  exists  between  the  eastern  and  western  continents,  is 
of  comparatively  recent  origin  ;  that  the  century  is  not  very  dis- 
tant when  South  America  was  united  with  Africa,  and  North 
America  with  Asia  and  Europe.2  Earthquakes  of  course,  the 
ever  ready  helpers  of  a  theorist  in  dilemma,  were  the  causes  of 
the  disruption  which  has  taken  place.  The  honor  of  beginning 
the  population  of  this  continent  has  also  been  given  by  different 
writers  to  the  Phenicians,  the  Carthaginians,  the  Germans,  the 
Welch,  the  Icelanders,  the  Moors,  the  Scythians,  the  Chinese  — 
indeed  scarcely  a  nation  exists  in  the  eastern  hemisphere,  which 
some  philosophic  speculator  has  not  made  the  undoubted  original 
of  the  Indian  tribes.  To  this  superabundance  of  theory,  Cotton 
Mather  has  added  a  singular  notion  of  his  own.  His  love  of  the 
supernatural  would  not  suffer  him  to  admit  any  agency  in  this 
matter  less  distinguished  than  that  of  the  great  enemy  of  man- 
kind. It  was  he  who  first  moved  in  the  business  of  emigration, 
and  his  devilish  object  was  to  carry  at  least  a  portion  of  the  human 
race  to  a  land  so  distant  that  the  gospel  of  peace  and  pardon  would 
never  reach  them  there.3 

After  this  partial  enumeration  of  the  various  methods  of  sup- 
plying America  with  inhabitants  which  the  ingenuity  of  the 
learned  has  devised,  it  is  no  more  than  just  to  allow  the  Indians 
to  speak  for  themselves  upon  the  question.  "  They  say  that  they 
have  sprung  up  and  grown  in  that  very  place  like  the  trees  of  the 
wilderness."4  Let  no  one  smile  at  the  simplicity  of  this  solution, 
for  even  the  brilliant  and  learned  Voltaire  has  presented  the 
same.  These  are  his  words ;  "  The  providence  which  placed 


1  Adair  occupies  a  large  part  of  his  voluminous  work  in  earnestly  advocating  this  opinion. 

9  Abbe  Clavigero :  History  of  Mexico,  in,  109. 

8  "  Probably  the  devil  decoyed  those  miserable  savages  hither,  in  hopes  that  the  gospel  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  would  never  come  here  to  destroy  or  disturb  his  absolute  empire  over  them." 
Magnolia,  Book  in. 

4  Roger  Williams,  in  Mass.  Hist.  Col.,  m,  205. 


THE  ABORIGINAL  INHABITANTS  or  CONNECTICUT.     287 

mankind  in  Norway,  planted  them  also  in  America,  and  under 
the  southern  polar  circle,  even  as  it  planted  trees  there  and  made 
the  grass  to  grow."1  This  remarkable  coincidence  completes  the 
circle  of  folly.  Infidel  science  ends  where  ignorance  began. 
Learned  philosophism  and  savage  superstition  rest  lovingly  to- 
gether upon  the  same  broad  basis. 

From  this  wilderness  of  opinions  it  is  not  easy  to  emerge  with- 
out a  hearty  acquiescence  in  the  opening  remark  of  Gookin, 
"  concerning  the  original  of  the  Indians  in  New  England,  there 
is  nothing  of  certainty  to  be  concluded."  If  any  one  chooses, 
however,  to  rest  in  the  theory  of  Robertson2  and  Dwight,3  he  will 
probably  find  less  to  disturb  him  there  than  in  almost  any  other 
position.  This  theory  holds  that  the  northeastern  part  of  Ame- 
rica was  colonized  from  the  north  of  Europe,  and  that  the  whole 
continent  beside  received  its  population  from  Asia  by  way  of 
Behring's  strait  and  the  Aleutian  archipelago.  A  glance  at  the 
map  must  convince  any  one  that  such  an  opinion  is  perfectly 
rational,  for  even  the  White  bear,  on  his  cake  of  ice,  has  a  hun- 
dred times  made  longer  voyages  than  the  distance  which  separates 
the  two  worlds.4 

Almost  without  exception  the  Indians  were  tall,  straight  and 
muscular.  Their  manner  of  life  from  the  earliest  period  of  youth 
was  such  as  to  insure  a  free  and  full  development  of  the  physical 
system ;  and  born  as  they  were  of  sturdy  mothers,  they  inherited 
none  of  those  bodily  weaknesses  which,  self-caused  or  otherwise, 
so  heavily  curse  the  females  of  a  later  race.  Nearly  white  when 
new-born,  the  young  Indian  turns  more  and  more  to  the  tawny 
hue  as  he  advances  in  years,  until  the  copper-color  of  his  nation 
is  finally  fixed  upon  him.  A  broad,  square  face,  with  considera- 
ble elevation  of  feature ;  hair  black  and  coarse,  but  never  curling ; 


1  La  providence  qui  a  mis  des  homines  dans  le  Norve"ge,  en  a  plante  anssi  en  Amerique  et  sous  le 
cercle  polaire  meridional,  comme  elle  y  a  plante  des  arbres  et  fait  croitre  de  1'herbe." —  CEuvres, 
xvi,  10. 

2  History  of  America,  Book  iv. 

3  Travels  in  New  England,  Letter  ix. 

4  Bradford's  American  Antiquities  is  the  last,  and  perhaps  the  best  work  on  the  subject  which  1 
have  here  lightly  touched. 


288  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

eyes  small,  dark  and  keen  ;  these  complete  his  outward,  personal 
description. 

Among  the  moral  characteristics  of  the  Indian,  his  passive 
courage  was  perhaps  the  most  remarkable.  The  endless  state  of 
warfare  in  which  he  delighted  to  live,  together  with  the  cruelties 
so  generally  practiced  upon  captives  taken  in  battle,  gave  num- 
berless occasions  for  the  exercise  of  a  fortitude  which  the  stoic 
or  the  fatalist  might  have  wondered  to  behold.  "When  fastened 
to  the  stake,  and  yielding  up  his  life  by  the  keenest  tortures,  not 
a  rebellious  muscle  testified  to  the  agony  of  death.  No  sound 
escaped  his  lips  ;  or  if  his  voice  was  heard  among  the  yells  of 
his  tormentors,  it  was  neither 'the  shriek  of  pain  nor  the  cry  for 
deliverance,  but  a  song  as  defiant  and  triumphant  as  any  that 
burst  from  the  lips  around  him.  To  the  extremities  of  heat  and 
cold,  he  was  in  a  great  degree  insensible.  The  longest  journeys 
could  scarcely  be  said  to  fatigue  him.  With  a  little  cake  made 
from  the  meal  of  parched  corn  for  his  food,  and  water  from  any 
stream  for  his  only  drink,  he  would  travel  day  after  day  with 
but  scanty  resting,  and  arrive  fresh  and  unwearied  at  his  post. 
His  patient  endurance  of  fatigue  and  suffering  was  marked  with 
one  exception,  however,  which  the  faithful  pen  of  Williams  has 
not  hesitated  to  record,  although  it  presents  a  ludicrous  contrast 
to  the  high  heroism  with  which  death  was  uniformly  met.  He 
says  that  the  Indians  could  not  endure  the  toothache  with  any 
kind  of  equanimity,  but  that  they  cried  aloud  for  very  pain,  when 
this  tormentor  was  upon  them. 

The  Indian  was  also  characterized  by  a  remarkable  sense  of 
justice,  as  we  may  call  it,  manifested  alike  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tions of  revenge  and  gratitude.  The  lex  talionis  was  his  only  law. 
An  injury  was  never  forgiven  until  expiation  had  been  made, 
and  on  the  other  hand,  a  benefit  never  forgotten  until  repaid  in 
kind.  He  lived  under  the  great  law  of  nature ;  life  for  life  and 
limb  for  limb  ;  a  law  which  was  made  by  Divine  authority  the 
rule  for  the  administration  of  justice  by  magistrates  under  the 
Mosaic  system ;  which  Pharisaic  interpretation  perverted  into  a 
Divine  rule  of  private  conduct ;  and  which  Christ  forbids  as  a 
law  of  action  between  individuals,  because  God  has  said,  "  Yen- 


THE  ABORIGINAL  INHABITANTS  OF  CONNECTICUT.     289 

geance  is  mine  ;  I  will  repay."  Let  us  not  therefore  condemn 
the  Indian  with  too  great  severity,  if  in  his  utter  ignorance  of 
the  Divine  command,  and  without  any  competent  tribunal  of 
earthly  justice  to  which  he  might  appeal  for  redress,  he  so  often 
obeyed  the  instinctive  impulses  of  his  nature,  and  made  himself 
the  judge  and  avenger  of  his  own  wrongs.  Let  us  rather  con- 
template the  more  agreeable  manifestations  of  this  same  princi- 
ple of  retribution,  when  instead  of  evil  for  evil,  it  aimed  only  at 
rendering  good  for  good. 

The  elder  Wirithrop  has  left  an  anecdote  on  record  which 
curiously  illustrates  the  ingenuity  of  Indian  gratitude.  Mas- 
sasoit,  the  sachem  of  the  Pokanokets,  was  once  restored  from 
dangerous  sickness  to  health  by  the  medical  skill  of  Edward 
Winslow,  a  leading  man  among  the  first  settlers  of  the  Plymouth 
colony.  This  friendly  service  he  never  forgot,  but  manifested  to 
the  whites  in  every  possible  manner,  his  grateful  sense  of  the 
benefit  which  he  had  received  from  one  of  their  number.  On  a 
certain  occasion,  Winslow,  who  had  been  absent  for  some  time 
in  Connecticut,  returned  through  the  country  of  his  friend  Mas- 
sasoit,  and  stopped  at  his  quarters  to  spend  the  night  with  him. 
Immediately  after  his  arrival,  the  sachem  secretly  dispatched 
his  swiftest  runner  to  the  colony,  bidding  him  announce  with  the 
most  truthful  air  which  he  could  assume,  the  sudden  death  of 
his  honored  guest ;  even  the  very  time  and  manner  of  it  were 
minutely  dictated.  The  next  morning,  refreshed  by  the  hospi- 
talities of  the  wigwam,  Winslow  pursued  his  homeward  journey. 
On  his  arrival  at  Plymouth,  he  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  find 
the  whole  population  lamenting  his  untimely  departure,  while 
they  were  certainly  not  less  amazed  to  behold  him  once  more 
in  the  flesh.  When  Massasoit  next  visited  the  colony,  he  was 
requested  to  explain  the  object  of  this  singular  falsehood.  With- 
out seeming  to  suspect  the  least  impropriety  in  the  course  he  had 
taken,  the  old  sachem  replied,  that  he  was  strongly  desirous  of 
making  his  white  friends  happy,  and  that  he  could  think  of 
nothing  which  would  give  them  greater  pleasure  than  to  have 
their  friend  and  counselor  suddenly  restored  to  their  arms  in  the 
very  midst  of  their  mourning  for  his  loss.  The  story  stops  at 
20 


290  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

this  point,  but  we  may  reasonably  conjecture  that  while  the  be- 
nevolent motive  of  the  old  chieftain  was  properly  acknowledged, 
he  was  at  the  same  time  taught  that  truth  is  even  more  sacred 
than  friendship.1 

Hospitality  was  another  characteristic  of  the  Indians.  The 
stranger  was  always  welcome.  If  he  came  in  the  night,  hungry 
and  weary,  men  and  women  roused  themselves  from  slumber, 
and  cheerfully  provided  for  his  wants.  The  best  wigwam,  usually 
that  of  the  sachem,  was  appointed  for  his  habitation  while  he 
remained,  and  he  was  troubled  with  no  questions  concerning  the 
object  of  his  visit  or  the  time  of  his  departure. 

Generosity  was  also  a  common  virtue.  They  had  little  to  give, 
it  is  true,  but  whatever  they  had  was  freely  offered.  Whenever 
one  of  them  had  been  unusually  successful  in  the  chase  or  on  the 
water,  a  part  of  his  fish  and  flesh  was  always  distributed  among 
his  neighbors.  Of  the  sick  their  friendship  was  never  forgetful. 
They  filled  his  hut  and  crowded  round  it  with  offers  of  aid ;  not 
always  judicious,  indeed,  but  giving  the  most  ample  testimony 
to  the  generous  warmth  of  their  hearts.  On  the  recovery  of  the 
invalid,  it  was  a  general  custom  with  them  to  send  him  presents, 
as  some  compensation  for  the  expenses  attendant  upon  disease  ; 
a  custom  beautiful  in  itself,  and  rendered  especially  necessary  by 
the  improvidence  of  the  Indian,  for  it  was  no  part  of  his  practical 
wisdom  to  make  health  labor  for  sickness,  or  youth  for  old  age. 

His  aversion  to  labor  was  such,  indeed,  that  nothing  but  the 
urgency  of  natural  wants  could  rouse  him  to  exertion  ;  and  when 
the  immediate  necessity  was  satisfied,  no  thought  of  the  future 
prevented  his  return  to  idleness.  He  might  suffer  the  severest 
pangs  of  famine  in  the  long  and  dismal  winters  of  the  north ;  the 
winds  might  pierce  his  miserable  dwelling,  and  cause  even  his 
hardened  flesh  to  shrink  from  their  icy  touch,  but  the  experience 
of  these  and  similar  evils  could  not  persuade  him  to  make  any 
effectual  provision  against  them.  War  and  the  chase  alone  ex- 
cepted,  the  dolce  far  niente  was  the  paradise  of  the  Indian. 

But  war  was  his  delight,  and  whenever  his  energies  were  roused 


Winthrop's  History  of  New  England,  i,  188. 


THE  ABORIGINAL  INHABITANTS  OF  CONNECTICUT.     291 

by  an  impulse  of  this  nature,  he  exhibited  the  most  abundant 
resources  of  cunning,  courage,  patience  and  perseverance;  of 
nearly  all  the  qualities,  indeed,  which  were  best  calculated  to 
insure  success.  In  the  conduct  of  warfare,  the  Indian  fought 
with  little  regard  to  military  discipline  or  to  the  commands  of 
his  leader.  He  trusted  to  himself  in  a  remarkable  degree. 
Sometimes  a  single  warrior,  in  search  of  glory  or  revenge,  would 
leave  his  tribe  hundreds  of  miles  behind  him,  and  penetrate  alone 
the  country  of  his  enemy.  The  history  of  civilized  nations  can 
furnish  no  example  of  greater  self-reliance  than  was  exhibited  in 
such  enterprises  as  these. 

Among  the  moral  characteristics  of  the  Indian,  it  only  remains 
to  notice  his  comparative  indifference  to  sensual  pleasures.  In 
this  one  respect  he  presented  a  striking  contrast  to  nearly  every 
other  savage,  removed  as  far  as  he  was  from  all  the  restraints  of 
civilized  and  Christian  life.  Food  of  the  most  simple  character 
was  all  that  his  appetite  demanded;  his  thirst  was  always  slaked 
and  satisfied  with  a  little  water  from  the  spring.  If,  as  was 
sometimes  the  case,  he  was  obliged  to  fast  two  or  three  days  in 
succession,  he  submitted  in  patience  to  the  necessity,  never 
seeming  to  regard  it  as  a  hardship  worthy  of  complaint.  But  it 
may  be  said  that  the  Indian  was  indifferent  to  the  pleasures  of 
the  palate,  only  because  he  was  ignorant  of  the  sources  of  grati- 
fication. He  knew  no  food  more  inviting  than  his  half-cooked 
fish  and  flesh  ;  no  drink  more  pleasant  to  the  taste  than  water ; 
and  not  being  conscious  of  deficiency,  he  therefore  sought  for 
nothing  better  than  that  which  he  already  possessed.  It  may  be 
so.  Let  us,  however,  venture  to  extend  the  inquiry  to  another 
appetite,  which,  next  to  hunger  and  thirst,  is  the  most  imperious 
of  all  in  its  demands ;  to  that  upon  which  the  continued  existence 
of  the  race  depends.  Passing  upon  this  ground,  we  find  the  same 
characteristic  of  comparative  indifference;  the  Indian  is  still 
"  the  stoic  of  the  woods."  To  him  the  female  of  his  race  was 
not,  as  in  civilized  society,  a  companion  and  friend ;  nor  yet,  as 
elsewhere,  the  mere  object  of  voluptuous  desire  ;  but  he  seemed 
to  look  upon  her  as  little  other  than  a  slave  and  beast  of  burden. 
His  conduct  exhibited  none  of  those  tender  sentiments  which, 


292  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

grounded  on  the  difference  of  the  sexes,  soften .  and  harmonize 
their  intercourse,  but  he  stood  aloof  in  his  cold  superiority,  waited 
on  with  trembling  by  his  female  drudges. 

During  the  wars  which  he  so  frequently  and  fiercely  waged 
against  the  whites,  many  of  their  wives  and  daughters  were  taken 
captive  and  carried  into  his  own  country.  Although  these 
prisoners  were  entirely  at  his  disposal ;  although  they  were  sub- 
ject to  insult  and  injury  of  every  other  kind;  there  is  yet  no  in- 
stance recorded  of  the  perpetration  of  that  violence  which  female 
virtue  reckons  worse  than  death.  How  shall  we  account  for  this 
remarkable  temperance  ?  How  can  it  be  accounted  for,  except 
upon  the  ground  that  the  Indian  master,  whether  from  natural 
temperament  or  manner  of  life,1  or  indeed  from  the  joint  influ- 
ence of  both  these  causes,  was  in  a  great  measure  insensible  to 
the  ordinary  power  of  female  beauty  ?  No  other  explanation  is 
free  from  insuperable  difficulties.  The  lust  of  the  savage  is  his 
law.  Whatever  desire  urges  and  opportunity  presents  to  his 
hand,  he  does  ;  restrained  even  by  the  slightest  barriers  of  ex- 
ternal prohibition,  and  hearing  the  faintest  whisper  from  the 
voice  within.  If  then,  at  any  time,  he  seems  to  respect  the 
claims  of  virtue,  his  continence  must  be  attributed,  not  so  much 
to  a  kindred  virtue  in  himself,  as  to  the  absence  of  every  impulse 
toward  its  violation. 

When  the  young  Indian  arrived  at  marriageable  years,  he 
began  to  look  about  him  for  a  companion  in  life.  Having  found 
one  that  suited  his  fancy,  he  paid  his  addresses  to  her  by  the  gift 
of  such  trinkets  and  treasures  as  he  supposed  would  be  most 
pleasing  to  her  taste.  If  his  presents  were  rejected,  his  suit  was 
lost ;  if  received,  it  was  the  token  of  his  own  acceptance,  but 
marriage  did  not  immediately  follow.  The  young  couple  lived 
together  for  a  time  on  trial.  At  the  end  of  the  probationary 
period,  if  they  were  pleased  with  each  other,  they  were  united  in 
wedlock;  if  not,  they  separated,  each  to  make  another  experi- 
ment in  a  different  quarter.  After  marriage,  the  first  object  of 
the  young  husband  was  to  provide  a  dwelling  for  his  wife  and 


>  "  Sine  Baccho  et  Cerere  friget  Venus. 


THE  ABORIGINAL  INHABITANTS  OF  CONNECTICUT.     293 

himself.  This  was  accomplished  in  the  following  manner.  Having 
chosen  a  spot  for  his  house,  with  especial  reference  to  the  con- 
venient neighborhood  of  wood  and  water,  he  proceeded  to  form 
its  roof  and  walls  by  bending  down  toward  a  common  center, 
the  tops  of  a  circle  of  stout  saplings,  and  closely  interlacing  their 
trunks  with  strips  of  bark.  This  done,  it  only  remained  to  cut 
a  hole  in  the  top  of  the  hut  for  the  passage  of  the  smoke ;  to 
make  an  opening  on  the  side  for  the  ingress  and  egress  of  its 
inhabitants ;  to  cover  the  structure,  within  and  without,  with 
mats  to  keep  it  warm,  and  then  the  simple  dwelling  of  the  Indian 
was  completed. 

In  the  division  of  family  duties,  the  whole  drudgery  of  life  was 
imposed  upon  the  female.  While  the  husband  was  engaged  in 
hunting  or  fishing,  the  wife  was  compelled  to  cultivate  the  field ; 
to  supply  the  wigwam  with  food  and  water ;  to  carry  home  the 
game  which  her  husband  had  taken  —  in  short,  whenever  toilsome 
and  inglorious  work  of  any  kind  was  to  be  done,  she  was  the 
only  laborer.  There  was  but  a  single  exception  to  this  domestic 
law.  The  Indian  could  condescend  to  labor  in  the  field  for  one 
purpose.  His  darling  plant,  tobacco,  was  thought  worthy  to  re- 
ceive his  personal  care.  The  manner  of  life  to  which  the  Indian 
female,  even  from  a  child,  was  bred,  although  in  itself  most 
ungenerous  and  oppressive,  was  attended  with  at  least  one 
salutary  effect.  It  gave  her  a  strength  of  bodily  constitution 
scarcely  inferior  to  that  of  her  master.  Her  powers  of  endurance 
were  astonishing.  The  curse  of  her  sex  was  nearly  lost  upon  her. 
"  I  have  often  known,"  says  Williams,  "  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour, 
a  woman  merry  in  the  house,  and  delivered  and  merry  again  ; 
and  within  two  days  abroad,  and  after  four  or  five  days  at  work." 
The  number  of  wives  was  unlimited,  yet  polygamy,  though  not 
rare,  was  by  no  means  universal  among  them.  Divorces  fre- 
quently took  place,  for  little  beside  the  inclination  of  the  parties 
kept  them  together.  Adultery  was  considered  a  heinous  crime, 
although  the  sexual  intercourse  of  the  unmarried  was  under  no 
restraint,  either  of  law  or  public  opinion.  The  children  of  the 
Indians  were  treated  by  their  parents  with  great  affection  and  in- 
dulgence, but  parental  kindness  was  seldom  repaid  or  even  re- 


294  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

membered.  The  aged  and  helpless  were  frequently  left  to  perish 
in  neglect,  without  the  slightest  token  of  love  or  offer  of  aid  from 
those  to  whom  they  had  given  birth.  In  the  heart  of  the  Indian, 
the  current  of  affection,  forsaking  the  parents,  ran  always  forward 
toward  the  children ;  and  this  truth  continuing  from  one  generation 
to  another,  it  came  to  pass  that  filial  ingratitude  was  ever  justly 
punished  in  the  very  manner  of  its  own  sin.  The  child  who  had 
neglected  his  parent,  becoming  a  parent  himself,  was  in  turn 
neglected  by  the  children  whom  he  had  begotten. 

Of  iron  and  steel  the  Indian  had  no  knowledge.  All  the  tools 
which  he  used  were  made  of  wood,  shells,  and  stone.  The  hoe 
with  which  the  Indian  women  cultivated  the  fields,  was  a  clam- 
shell. Their  axe  was  of  stone,  having  a  withe  fastened  round  the 
neck  of  it  for  a  handle.  Their  mortars,  pestles,  and  chisels, 
were  also  of  stone ;  and  they  had  moreover  stone  knives,  sharp- 
ened to  so  keen  an  edge  that  they  could  easily  cut  their  hair  with 
them.  Two  methods  of  hunting  were  in  use  among  the  natives. 
Sometimes  they  followed  their  game  in  companies  of  two  or  three 
hundred  men,  scouring  the  forests,  and  destroying  multitudes  of 
the  sylvan  inhabitants,  with  the  same  weapons  which  they  used 
in  war.  Sometimes  they  filled  the  woods  with  traps  of  various 
fashions,  and  spent  their  time  in  passing  from  one  trap  to  another, 
to  secure  whatever  had  been  taken  in  them.  In  fishing,  they 
employed  nets  made  of  hemp ;  lines  terminating  in  a  hook  of 
bone ;  and  in  shallow  water,  arrows  or  sharpened  sticks,  in  the 
use  of  which  they  were  very  skillful. 

Their  weapons  of  war  were  the  bow  and  arrow,  the  spear,  and 
the  tomahawk.  The  string  of  the  bow  was  made  either  of  hemp 
or  of  the  sinew  of  some  wild  animal.  The  arrow  was  commonly 
headed  with  a  sharp  stone,  but  sometimes  with  the  horn  of  the 
deer,  and  the  claw  of  the  eagle.  The  spear  was  nothing  more 
than  a  long  pole,  sharpened  at  the  end,  and  hardened  in  the  fire. 
The  tomahawk,  by  no  means  the  deadly  weapon  which  the  In- 
dian has  used  since  iron  was  given  him,  was  merely  a  stick  of 
two  or  three  feet  in  length,  headed  with  a  knob  or  a  stone.  Such 
were  the  simple  arms  of  the  aborigines,  and  although  with  these 
they  were  able  to  carry  on  the  warfare  of  ambushment  and  sur- 


THE  ABORIGINAL  INHABITANTS  OF  CONNECTICUT.     295 

prisal,  which  they  loved  so  well,  yet  we  cannot  wonder  that  a 
few  shots  of  European  musketry  so  often  drove  hundreds  of  them 
from  the  open  field. 

The  Indian  was  not  without  a  circulating  medium,  to  represent 
the  value  of  the  little  property  which  he  possessed.  His  coin  was 
called  wompumpeag,  or  more  briefly,  wampum,  and  was  of  two  kinds, 
the  white  and  black.  The  black  was  double  in  value  to  the  white 
It  was  wrought  from  shells  into  the  form  of  beads,  to  be  strung 
as  beads  are,  and  reckoned  by  the  fathom.  A  fathom  of  wampum 
was  worth  not  far  from  five  English  shillings.  This  Indian  money 
served  a  double  purpose,  being  used  for  ornament  as  well  as 
trade.  Chains  and  bracelets  were  made  of  it,  and  worn  upon 
the  neck  and  wrists,  while  belts  curiously  wrought,  encircled 
the  body.  Indeed  nearly  the  whole  dress  of  the  more  wealthy 
was  covered  by  it,  for  the  ostentation  of  riches  is  confined  to  no 
state  of  society,  and  to  no  period  of  the  world.  There  was  not 
any  restriction  upon  the  manufacture  of  this  money,  but  whoever 
chose  to  make  it,  was  at  liberty  to  do  so. 

In  what  is  called  driving  a  bargain,  the  Connecticut  Indian 
was  scarcely  inferior  to  the  Connecticut  white.  An  old  historian 
says,  "  they  will  be  at  all  markets,  and  try  all  places,  and  run 
twenty,  thirty,  yea,  forty  miles  and  more,  and  lodge  in  the  woods, 
to  save .  six  pence."  Their  trade  was  principally  in  furs ;  but 
sometimes  in  corn,  venison,  and  fish.  It  was  never  safe  to  allow 
them  credit,  for  whoever  did  so,  most  commonly  lost  both  his 
debt  and  his  customer. 

The  political  institutions  of  the  Indians  were  of  the  very  sim- 
plest character.  A  hereditary  sachemdom  was  the  only  authority 
recognized  among  the  tribes.  In  theory,  the  power  of  the  sachem 
was  absolute ;  but  whenever  a  question  of  more  than  usual  in- 
terest or  difficulty  arose,  he  always  sought  the  advice,  and  was 
guided  by  the  wisdom  of  his  counselors.  His  actual  influence 
with  his  subjects  depended  far  more  upon  personal  character, 
than  upon  birth  or  station.  The  sachem  who  was  not  the  leader 
of  his  tribe,  in  fact  as  well  as  name,  could  not  long  command 
their  respect  or  obedience.  Females  were  not  excluded  from  the 
regular  line  of  succession,  although  the  early  history  of  New 
England  presents  but  few  examples  of  such  government. 


296  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

The  dignity  of  the  orown  was  sustained  by  the  liberal  contri- 
butions of  the  people.  Offerings  of  corn  and  other  productions 
of  the  soil  were  annually  made  to  the  sachem,  who  received  also 
one-fourth  of  all  venison  taken  in  the  -chase.  If  his  dominions 
included  any  portion  of  sea-coast,  whatsoever  was  cast  upon  the 
shore,  were  it  ship  or  whale,  belonged  to  him. 

The  administration  of  justice  was  among  the  duties  of  the  sachem, 
who  united  in  his  single  person,  the  legislative,  judicial,  and  exe- 
cutive functions.  The  Indian  who  had  transgressed  the  laws  of  his 
tribe,  not  only  received  his  sentence  from  the  lips  of  his  chief, 
but  ordinarily,  the  punishment  decreed,  was  inflicted  by  the  hand 
of  the  judge  himself.  In  every  such  instance,  the  criminal  sub- 
mitted in  silence  to  the  discipline  of  his  master. 

The  sachem  was  assisted  in  council  by  a  certain  order  of  men 
called  the  paniese.  He  availed  himself  of  their  wisdom  in  time 
of  quiet,  and  in  war  they  formed  his  body-guard.  Selected  as 
the  paniese  were,  from  the  most  promising  of  the  young  men, 
trained  to  dare  every  danger,  and  endure  all  hardships,  they  con- 
stituted not  only  the  defense  of  the  sovereign,  but,  in  a  great 
measure,  the  strength  of  the  whole  tribe.  They  founded  their 
claim  to  the  respect  of  the  people,  not  more  upon  their  personal 
merits,  than  upon  their  pretended  intercourse  with  the  invisible 
world.  They  were  wise  enough  to  know  that  the  great  weakness 
of  the  savage  is  his  superstition,  and  taking  advantage  of  this 
weakness,  they  established  their  power  in  this  world  on  a  firmer 
basis,  by  deriving  their  authority  from  the  powers  of  the  world 
to  come. 

The  mind  of  the  Indian,  degraded  and  dark  as  it  might  be, 
was  nevertheless  not  without  a  few  faint  glimpses  from  the  eternal 
world.  Although  among  the  lowest  of  mankind,  he  was  still  a 
man,  and  therefore  not  utterly  destitute  of  those  religious  ideas 
which,  by  nature,  belong  to  every  human  soul.  He  believed  in 
a  Supreme  Being,  and  in  a  future  state  ;  he  recognized  a  ruling 
Providence  in  the  affairs  of  this  world,  and  a  retribution  hereafter. 
These  great  principles  of  natural  religion  were  as  really,  if  not  so 
beautifully,  developed  in  the  wilds  of  North  America,  as  they  ever 
had  been  in  the  porch  and  the  academy  of  ancient  Greece ;  for 


THE  ABORIGINAL  INHABITANTS  OF  CONNECTICUT.      297 

wherever  the  Almighty  enkindles  the  immortal  fire  of  a  human 
soul,  he  never  leaves  it  without  implanting  in  its  nature  a  witness 
of  himself. 

The  religion  of  the  Indian  was  polytheistic  in  the  very  highest 
degree ;  but  like  every  other  polytheist,  he  had  his  greater  and 
his  lesser  deities.  Kiehtan  was  his  name  for  the  good  God,  the 
creator  of  the  world,  and  the  bountiful  bestower  of  every  blessing. 
His  home  was  in  the  southwestern  heavens,  and  to  his  presence 
went  the  souls  of  the  good,  when  death  called  them  to  leave  the 
earth.  He  named  his  devil,  Hobbam.ock.  This  bad  spirit  was  the 
fountain  of  all  evil ;  and  fear,  which  among  savages  is  always 
stronger  than  love,  led  the  Indian  to  court  his  favor  with  prayers 
and  offerings,  and  nearly  every  form  of  deprecatory  worship. 
Beside  these  two  principal  deities,  there  was  a  multitude  of  local 
gods  who  were  known  by  the  general  name  of  Manitou.  With 
these  subordinate  spirits  the  whole  world  of  the  Indian  was  over- 
flowing. The  classical  student  is  familiar  with  the  beautiful 
superstition  of  that  land  where  every  wood  has  its  dryad  ;  every 
fountain  its  naiad  —  where  the  rainbow  was  the  garment  of  one 
god,  and  the  sun  the  golden  chariot  of  another  —  where  the  Lares 
and  Penates  watched  over  the  household  hearth  —  where  Jupiter 
thundered  in  the  heavens,  and  Neptune  rose  from  the  sea.  But 
the  fancy  of  the  Indian  was  even  more  than  prodigal  of  its  trea- 
sures than  the  poetry  of  brilliant  Greece.  He  filled  and  crowded 
every  object  in  nature  with  spiritual  existence.  The  great  points 
of  the  compass,  east,  west,  north,  south,  had  each  its  peculiar  god. 
The  sun,  the  moon,  the  sea,  and  the  fire,  were  all  the  abodes  of 
supernatural  beings.  Even  the  involuntary  motions  of  the  body 
were  attributed  to  the  power  of  resident  spirits.  It  was  a  god 
who  made  the  heart  to  beat ;  yet  another  god  who  filled  the  lungs 
with  vital  air.  It  was  a  god  (Somnus  by  a  different  name),  who 
sat  upon  the  eyelids  and  pressed  them  down  in  slumber ;  still 
another  god  who  lifted  those  lids,  and  let  in  the  light  of  the 
morning.  So  also  whenever  any  thing  took  place,  the  cause  or 
manner  of  which  they  did  not  at  once  perceive,  they  were  always 
accustomed  to  say,  Manitou,  it  is  a  god.  "  At  the  apprehension 
of  any  excellency  in  man,  woman,  birds,  beasts,  fish,  etc.,"  they 


298  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

still  cried  out,  with  a  kind  of  reverential  admiration,  it  is  a  god. 
When  the  English  first  came  among  them,  and  they  beheld  the 
ships  which  brought  them  over ;  the  buildings  which  they  erected ; 
their  manner  of  cultivating  the  fields ;  their  arms  and  clothing ; 
and  above  all,  their  books  and  letters,  they  exclaimed  one  to 
another,  Manitouwock,  they  are  gods.  In  all  this  we  discover, 
carried  out  to  its  full  extent,  the  universal  tendency  of  the  un- 
taught mind  to  refer  all  appearances,  unusual  or  difficult  of  ex- 
planation, to  the  immediate  agency  of  supernatural  beings.  The 
grand  idea  of  something  above  and  beyond  nature,  pervades  the 
whole  region  of  humanity,  whether  developed  in  the  pantheism 
of  the  philosopher,  the  polytheism  of  the  savage,  or  the  heaven- 
inspired  faith  of  the  Christian. 

With  a  belief  so  constantly  active  in  the  existence  and  power 
of  spiritual  beings,  the  Indians  were  ever  seeking  to  propitiate 
their  favor,  by  prayers  and  sacrifices  and  solemn  feasts ;  the  cus- 
tomary methods  to  which  nature  seems  to  direct  the  unenlight- 
ened soul.-  Kiehtan,  the  good  god,  they  approached  chiefly  with 
thanksgiving,  for  benefits  received.  When  victory  crowned  their 
warfare,  or  plenty  smiled  upon  their  fields,  or  success  attended 
their  efforts  in  any  direction,  it  was  piously  attributed  to  the 
friendly  aid  of  this  benevolent  spirit,  and  they  expressed  their 
thanks  to  him  in  song  and  dance,  and  every  utterance  of  grate- 
ful joy. 

But  their  principal  worship  was  paid  to  Hobbamock,  whose  dis- 
position to  do  them  injury  they  strove  by  every  means  to  change. 
They  were  accustomed  to  ascribe  all  their  sufferings  to  the  mis- 
chievous agency  of  this  spirit  of  evil.  Disease,  death,  defeat  in 
battle,  famine,  and  pestilence;  these  and  other  calamities  pro- 
ceeded forth  from  him,  and  fear  of  his  power  compelled  them  to 
supplicate  his  mercy  with  all  the  earnestness  of  prayer.  The 
Indian  who  had  lost  a  child,  called  up  his  family  at  break  of  day, 
to  join  him  in  his  lamentation,  and  with  abundance  of  tears,  ex- 
claimed, "Oh!  God!  thou  hast  taken  away* my  child  !  thou  art 
angry  with  me.  Oh !  turn  thine  anger  away  from  me,  and  spare 
the  rest  of  my  children."1  A  fearful  dream  they  conceived  to  be 

1  Key,  chap.  xxi. 


THE  ABORIGINAL  INHABITANTS  OF  CONNECTICUT.     299 

a  threatening  of  evil  from  Hobbamock,  and  whenever  their  rest 
was  so  disturbed,  they  would  rise  at  all  times  of  the  night  and 
fall  at  once  to  supplication. 

But  not  with  prayers  alone  did  the  Indian  seek  the  favor,  and 
deprecate  the  wrath  of  his  gods.  Sacrifices  were  also  common 
among  them,  and  it  has  even  been  asserted  that  human  life  was 
occasionally  taken  for  this  purpose.  The  truth  of  this  statement, 
however,  is  doubtful,  and  so  long  as  entire  certainty  is  wanting, 
we  should  hesitate  to  admit  that  the  Indian  was  ever  guilty  of  so 
horrible  a  crime.  But  whether  or  not  they  gave  the  fruit  of  the 
body  for  the  sin  of  the  soul,  there  is  no  question  of  their  liberality 
in  separating  to  religious  purposes  the  most  valued  of  their 
worldly  possessions.  Kettles,  skins,  hatchets,  beads,  and  knives, 
all  were  cast  by  the  priests  into  the  sacred  fire,  and  consumed  to 
ashes ;  and  while  the  conflagration  was  going  on,  they  gathered 
around  it,  sometimes  by  hundreds,  dancing  and  shouting,  and 
making  all  kinds  of  discordant  noises.  In  these  religious  exer- 
cises, they  were  led  on  by  the  priests,  or  as  they  named  them, 
powows,  who  to  sustain  their  official  character,  made  their  devo- 
tion so  excessively  earnest,  that  it  often  left  them  utterly  exhausted 
with  fatigue. 

The  Indian  powow  was  a  physician  as  well  as  a  priest.  In  every 
case  of  sickness,  he  was  sent  for  to  the  cabin  of  the  sufferer, 
where  his  mere  presence,  or  if  that  failed,  his  magical  incantations, 
were  thought  sufficient  to  restore  the  invalid.  The  credulous 
historian  of  the  Narragansets,  who  was  frequently  a  witness  of 
these  superstitious  rites,  acknowledges  that  "  by  the  help  of  the 
devil,  they  do  most  certainly  work  great  cures,"  although  "  they 
administer  nothing,  but  howl  and  roar  and  hollow  over  them." 

The  heaven  of  the  Indian  was  in  the  house  of  Kiehtan,  far  away 
in  the  southwest,  where  the  spirits  of  the  good  who  had  left  the 
earth,  were  gathered  in  a  most  happy  society,  enjoying  in  con- 
stant fullness  those  pleasures  which,  to  the  simple  mind  of  the 
Indian,  were  enough  to  constitute  a  paradise.  There  they  en- 
gaged in  the  occupations  which  delighted  them  most  in  the  world 
they  had  left  behind.  War,  followed  always  by  victory  —  the 
chase,  with  a  never-failing  abundance  of  game  —  feasting  and 


300  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

t 
dancing  —  these  brightened  the  hours  as  they  rolled  along,  and 

filled  up  the  measure  of  their  heavenly  happiness.  But  this 
heaven  is  open  only  to  the  good.  The  souls  of  thieves,  liars,  and 
murderers,  go  also  to  the  house  of  Kiehtan,  and  ask  for  admission, 
but  he  replies  that  there  is  no  place  for  them;  he  bids  them  de- 
part, and  so  "  they  wander  forever  in  restless  want  and  penury." 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  southwest  was  so  generally 
distinguished  by  the  aborigines  as  the  peculiar  quarter  of  their 
God  and  their  heaven.  This  sentiment  prevailed  not  only  in 
Connecticut  and  New  England,  but  throughout  the  United  States. 
The  reason  of  this  common  belief  must  occur  to  every  one  familiar 
with  the  climate  of  the  country.  The  east  wind  is  damp  and 
chilly,  bringing  clouds  and  rain  from  the  ocean ;  the  north  wind 
is  piercingly  cold ;  but  the  wind  from  "the  sweet  southwest," 
which  unites  the  freshness  of  the  west  with  the  mildness  of  the 
south,  was  to  the  Indian,  as  well  as  to  the  Greek  of  old,  the 
Zephyr,  the  bringer  of  life.  Whenever  his  cheek  was  touched  by 
the  summer  softness  of  the  breezes  which  came  from  that  quarter 
of  the  sky,  it  was  not  difficult  for  him  to  believe,  with  a  literal 
confidence,  that  they  were  "  airs  from  heaven." 

When  the  Indian  died,  all  his  relations  and  friends  went  into 
mourning,  to  testify  their  sorro\v  for  his  loss.  In  the  beginning 
of  sickness,  indeed,  it  was  customary  for  the  females  of  the  family 
to  blacken  their  faces  with  soot  and  charcoal,  and  to  keep  them 
in  this  condition  day  after  day ;  but  only  when  disease  terminated 
in  death,  did  the  men  disfigure  themselves  in  the  same  singular 
manner.  This  visible  token  of  grief  was  accompanied  by  cries 
and  wailings  of  the  most  mournful  character.  Tears  plentiful  as 
rain  coursed  down  the  cheeks  of  the  mourners,  and  mingling 
with  the  soot  and  charcoal  which  covered  them,  presented  a  spec- 
tacle of  woe  calculated  to  move  far  other  feelings  than  those  of 
sympathetic  sorrow.  When  the  body  was  brought  to  the  place 
of  burial,  it  was  not  immediately  committed  to  the  earth,  but 
left  at  the  side  of  the  grave,  until  the  friends  of  the  dead  had 
united  once  more  in  vociferous  and  long-continued  lamentation. 
At  such  times,  not  only  the  women  and  children  suffered  their 
tears  to  flow  freely,  but  even  the  "  stoutest  captains  "  wept  in 


THE  ABORIGINAL  INHABITANTS  OF  CONNECTICUT.      301 

company.  This  duty  done,  the  corpse  was  laid  in  the  ground, 
wrapped  in  skins  and  mats,  and  covered  by  the  same  ornaments 
which  had  graced  it  when  a  living  body.  "Whatever  treasures 
belonged  to  the  deceased,  were  also  laid  by  his  side,  together 
with  all  the  utensils  and  implements  which  he  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  use  —  as  if  his  soul  would  need  them  in  the  world  to 
which  it  had  gone.  Sometimes  the  body  was  covered  with  a  fine 
red  powder,  of  a  strong  scent,  but  not  offensive,  which  was  evi- 
dently used  as  "  a  kind  of  embalment."1  The  wigwam  in  which 
he  had  died,  was  considered  thenceforth  uninhabitable,  and  always 
burned  down  or  otherwise  destroyed.  The  mat  upon  which  the 
dead  had  lain,  was  spread  over  his  grave,  and  his  coat  of  skins 
hung  up  on  a  neighboring  tree,  where  it  was  suffered  to  remain 
until  it  dropped  to  pieces.  The  continuance  of  mourning  de- 
pended very  much  upon  the  dignity  of  the  deceased ;  in  some 
cases  it  lasted  but  a  short  time ;  in  others  a  year  was  not  thought 
too  long  to  bear  about  the  emblems  of  sorrow.  After  the  funeral 
ceremonies  had  been  performed,  the  relatives  of  the  dead  were 
visited  by  all  their  acquaintances,  who  came  to  express  sympathy, 
and  offer  consolation .  The  Indian  was  never  guilty  of  neglecting 
this  important  office  of  friendship. 

A  singular  custom  prevailed  among  them  in  regard  to  pro- 
nouncing the  names  of  the  dead.  Whoever  did  so  was  subjected 
to  a  fine,  and  if  the  offense  was  repeated,  death  was  not  regarded 
as  a  punishment  too  severe.  In  1655,  the  Sachem  Philip  crossed 
from  the  main  land  to  the  island  of  Nantucket,  for  the  single 
purpose  of  taking  the  life  of  John  Gibbs ;  an  Indian  whose  only 
crime  was  that  he  had  spoken  the  name  of  a  deceased  relative  of 
Philip.  Gibbs  had  notice  of  his  coming  and  concealed  himself; 
the  English  interfered,  but  all  arguments,  together  with  all  the 
money  which  they  could  collect  for  the  ransom  of  the  offender, 
were  scarcely  able  to  calm  the  anger  of  Philip,  and  lead  him  to 
lay  aside  his  murderous  designs.2 

The  inquiry  in  which  we  have  thus  engaged  is  not  without  a 
mournful  interest,  when  we  remember  how  like  a  dream  when 


1  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims,  p.  143. 

»  Macy's  account  of  Nantucket,  in  Mats.  Hist.  Coll.,  m,  159. 


302  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

one  awaketh,  the  old  lords  of  the  land  have  passed  away.  The 
pestilence  which  destroyed  thousands  of  the  eastern  tribes  just 
before  the  landing  of  the  pilgrims  of  the  Plymouth  colony,  was 
more  rapid  in  its  work  of  death,  but  not  more  sure  than  the  surge 
of  emigration  which,  but  a  few  years  later,  began  to  roll  in  upon 
the  valley  of  the  Connecticut.  Whether  by  sickness,  by  sword, 
or  by  the  mere  neighborhood  of  a  stronger  and  wiser  race,  the 
destiny  of  the  Indian  drove  him  into  one  path,  and  that  path  led 
only  to  destruction. 

But  while  it  is  impossible  to  regard  the  disappearance  of  whole 
tribes  and  nations  without  a  feeling  near  akin  to  sadness,  yet 
when  we  estimate  aright,  in  all  its  bearings  and  results,  the 
wonderful  change  in  which  their  ruin  was  involved,  who  shall 
say  that  there  is  any  room  for  sorrow  ?  It  is  a  questionable  phi- 
lanthropy that  weeps  at  such  a  revolution.  Behold  the  contrast. 
Barbarism  has  given  place  to  civilization.  Heathenism  has 
yielded  to  Christianity.  The  depths  of  the  forest,  which  for 
ages  had  been  sacred  to  darkness,  are  now  laid  open  to  the  light 
of  the  sun.  The  resources  of  the  soil,  which  the  Indian  wanted 
industry  and  skill  to  develop,  are  no  longer  hidden  beneath  the 
surface,  but  on  every  side  we  behold,  in  all  abundance  and  variety, 
the  harvest  of  his  indefatigable  successor.  Physical  comfort, 
knowledge,  peace,  liberty,  and  religion  —  all  that  is  accounted 
excellent  and  desirable  in  the  world  —  have  become  the  com- 
mon inheritance  of  the  people,  even  upon  the  same  soil  where, 
two  centuries,  ago,  they  were  totally  unknown.  The  whimsical 
Rousseau  might  profess  to  regard  the  savage  state  as  the  most 
perfect  condition  of  humanity,  yet  surely,  no  sound  mind,  or 
benevolent  heart,  can  remember  with  any  thing  but  joy  the  change 
which  two  hundred  years  have  wrought  in  New  England. 


THE  INDIAN  RESERVATIONS  OF  CALIFORNIA.^ 
BY  J.  Ross  BKOWNE. 

When  the  state  of  California  was  admitted  into  the  Union,  the 
number  of  Indians  within  its  borders  was  estimated  at  one 
hundred  thousand.  Of  these,  some  five  or  six  thousand,  residing 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  missions,  were  partially  civilized,  and  sub- 
sisted chiefly  by  begging  and  stealing.  A  few  of  the  better  class 
contrived  to  avoid  starvation  by  casual  labor  in  the  vineyards  and 
on  the  farms  of  the  settlers.  They  were  very  poor  and  very  cor- 
rupt, given  to  gambling,  drinking,  and  other  vices  prevailing 
among  white  men,  and  to  which  Indians  have  a  natural  inclina- 
tion. As  the  country  became  more  settled,,  it  was  considered 
profitable,  owing  to  the  high  rate  of  compensation  for  white  labor, 
to  encourage  these  Christian  tribes  to  adopt  habits  of  industry, 
and  they  were  employed  very  generally  throughout  the  state. 
In  the  vine-growing  districts  they  were  usually  paid  in  native 
brandy  every  Saturday  night,  put  in  jail  next  morning  for  getting 
drunk,  and  bailed  out  on  Monday  to  work  out  the  fine  imposed 
upon  them  by  the  local  authorities.  This  system  still  prevails 
in  Los  Angeles,  where  I  have  often  seen  a  dozen  of  these  misera- 
ble wretches  carried  to  jail  roaring  drunk  of  a  Sunday  morning. 
The  inhabitants  of  Los  Angeles  are  a  moral  and  intelligent 
people,  and  many  of  them  disapprove  of  the  custom  on  principle, 
and  hope  it  will  be  abolished  as  soon  as  the  Indians  are  all  killed 
off.  Practically,  it  is  not  a  bad  way  of  bettering  their  condition ; 
for  some  of  them  die  every  week  from  the  effects  of  debauchery, 
or  kill  one  another  in  the  nocturnal  brawls  which  prevail  in  the 
outskirts  of  the  pueblo. 

The  settlers  in  the  northern  portions  of  the  state  had  a  still 
more  effectual  method  of  encouraging  the  Indians  to  adopt  habits 
of  civilization.  In  general,  they  engaged  them  at  a  fixed  rate  of 
wages  to  cultivate  the  ground,  and  during  the  season  of  labor 


1  Beprinted  from  Harper's  Magazine  (New  York),  for  August,  1861. 


304  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

fed  them  on  beans  and  gave  them  a  blanket  or  a  shirt  each ;  after 
which,  when  the  harvest  was  secured,  the  account  was  considered 
squared,  and  the  Indians  were  driven  off  to  forage  in  the  woods 
for  themselves  and  families  during  the  winter.  Starvation  usually 
wound  up  a  considerable  number  of  the  old  and  decrepit  ones 
every  season  ;  and  of  those  that  failed  to  perish  from  hunger  or 
exposure,  some  were  killed  on  the  general  principle  that*they 
must  have  subsisted  by  stealing  cattle,  for  it  was  well  known  that 
cattle  ranged  in  the  vicinity  ;  while  others  were  not  unfrequently 
slaughtered  by  their  employers  for  helping  themselves  to  the 
refuse  portions  of  the  crop  which  had  been  left  in  the  ground. 
It  may  be  said  that  these  were  exceptions  to  the  general  rule  ; 
but  if  ever  an  Indian  was  fully  and  honestly  paid  for  his  labor 
by  a  white  settler,  it  was  not  my  luck  to  hear  of  it.  Certainly, 
it  could  not  have  been  of  frequent  occurrence. 

The  wild  Indians  inhabiting  the  coast  range,  the  valleys  of 
the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin,  and  the  western  slope  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada,  became  troublesome  at  a  very  early  period  after 
the  discovery  of  the  gold  mines.  It  was  found  convenient  to 
take  possession  of  their  country  without  recompense,  rob  them 
of  their  wives  and  children,  kill  them  in  every  cowardly  and  bar- 
barous manner  that  could  be  devised,  and  when  that  was  im- 
practicable, drive  them  as  far  as  possible  out  of  the  way.  Such 
treatment  was  not  consistent  with  their  rude  ideas  of  justice. 
At  best  they  were  an  ignorant  race  of  Diggers,  wholly  unac- 
quainted with  our  enlightened  institutions.  They  could  not  un- 
derstand why  they  should  be  murdered,  robbed,  and  hunted  down 
in  this  way,  without  any  other  pretense  or  provocation  than  the 
color  of  their  skin  and  the  habits  of  life  to  which  they  had  always 
been  accustomed.  In  the  traditionary  researches  of  their  most 
learned  sages  they  had  never  heard  of  the  snakes  in  Ireland  that 
were  exterminated  for  the  public  benefit  by  the  great  and  good 
St.  Patrick.  They  were  utterly  ignorant  of  the  sublime  doctrine 
of  General  Welfare.  The  idea,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  never 
occurred  to  them  that  they  were  suffering  for  the  great  cause  of 
civilization,  which,  in  the  natural  course  of  things,  must  extermi- 
nate Indians.  Actuated  by  the  base  motives  of  resentment,  a 


THE  INDIAN  RESERVATIONS  OF  CALIFORNIA.         305 

few  of  them  occasionally  rallied,  preferring  rather  to  die  than 
submit  to  these  imaginary  wrongs.  White  men  were  killed  from 
time  to  time;  cattle  were  driven  off;  horses  were  stolen,  and 
various  other  iniquitous  offenses  were  committed. 

The  federal  government,  as  is  usual  in  cases  where  the  lives 
of  valuable  voters  are  at  stake,  was  forced  to  interfere.  Troops 
were  sent  out  to  aid  the  settlers  in  slaughtering  the  Indians. 
By  means  of  mounted  howitzers,  muskets,  Minie  rifles,  dragoon 
pistols,  and  sabres,  a  good  many  were  cut  to  pieces.  But,  on  the 
whole,  the  general  policy  of  the  government  was  pacific.  It  was 
not  designed  to  kill  any  more  Indians  than  might  be  necessary 
to  secure  the  adhesion  of  the  honest  yeomanry  of  the  state,  and 
thus  furnish  an  example  of  the  practical  working  of  our  political 
system  to  the  savages  of  the  forest,  by  which  it  was  hoped  they 
might  profit.  Congress  took  the  matter  in  hand  at  an  early  day, 
and  appropriated  large  sums  of  money  for  the  purchase  of  cattle 
arid  agricultural  implements.  From  the  wording  of  the  law,  it 
would  appear  that  these  useful  articles  were  designed  for  the  re- 
lief and  maintenance  of  the  Indians.  Commissioners  were  ap- 
pointed at  handsome  salaries  to  treat  with  them,  and  sub-agents 
employed  to  superintend  the  distribution  of  the  purchases.  In 
virtue  of  this  munificent  policy,  treaties  were  made  in  which  the 
various  tribes  were  promised  a  great  many  valuable  presents, 
which  of  course  they  never  got.  There  was  no  reason  to  suppose 
they  ever  should  ;  it  being  a  fixed  principle  with  strong  powers 
never  to  ratify  treaties  made  by  their  own  agents  with  weaker 
ones,  when  there  is  money  to  pay  and  nothing  to  be  had  in  return. 

The  cattle  were  purchased,  however,  to  the  number  of  many 
thousands.  Here  arose  another  difficulty.  The  honest  miners 
must  have  something  to  eat,  and  what  could  they  have  more 
nourishing  than  fat  cattle  ?  Good  beef  has  been  a  favorite  article 
of  subsistence  with  men  of  bone  and  muscle  ever  since  the  days 
of  the  ancient  Romans.  So  the  cattle,  or  the  greater  part  of 
them,  were  driven  up  to  the  mines,  and  sold  at  satisfactory  rates  — 
probably  for  the  benefit  of  the  Indians,  though  I  never  could  un- 
derstand in  what  way  their  necessities  were  relieved  by  this 
speculation,  unless  it  might  be  that  the  parties  interested  turned 
21 


306  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

over  to  them  the  funds  received  for  the  cattle.  It  is  very  certain 
they  continued  to  starve  and  commit  depredations  in  the  most 
ungrateful  manner  for  some  time  after ;  and,  indeed,  to  such  a 
pitch  of  audacity  did  they  carry  their  rebellious  spirit  against 
the  constituted  authorities,  that  many  of  the  chiefs  protested  if 
the  white  people  would  only  let  them  alone,  and  give  them  the 
least  possible  chance  to  make  a  living,  they  would  esteem  it  a 
much  greater  favor  than  any  relief  they  had  experienced  from 
the  munificent  donations  of  congress. 

But  government  was  not  to  be  defeated  in  its  benevolent  in- 
tentions. Voluminous  reports  were  made  to  congress,  showing 
that  a  general  reservation  system,  on  the  plan  so  successfully 
pursued  by  the  Spanish  missionaries,  would  best  accomplish  the 
object.  It  was  known  that  the  missions  of  California  had  been 
built  chiefly  by  Indian  labor ;  that  during  their  existence  the 
priests  had  fully  demonstrated  the  capacity  of  this  race  for  the  ac- 
quisition of  civilized  habits ;  that  extensive  vineyards  and  large 
tracts  of  land  had  been  cultivated  solely  by  Indian  labor,  under 
their  instruction ;  and  that  by  this  humane  system  of  teaching 
many  hostile  tribes  had  been  subdued,  and  enabled  not  only  to 
support  themselves  but  to  render  the  missions  highly  profitable 
establishments. 

No  aid  was  given  by  government  beyond  the  grants  of  land 
necessaiy  for  missionary  purposes  ;  yet  they  soon  grew  wealthy, 
owned  immense  herds  of  cattle,  supplied  agricultural  products 
to  the  rancheros,  and  carried  on  a  considerable  trade  in  hides 
and  tallow  with  the  United  States.  If  the  Spanish  priests  could 
do  this  without  arms  or  assistance,  in  the  midst  of  a  savage 
country,  at  a  period  when  the  Indians  were  more  numerous  and 
more  powerful  than  they  are  now,  surely  it  could  be  done  in  a 
comparatively  civilized  country  by  intelligent  Americans,  with 
all  the  lights  of  experience  and  the  cooperation  of  a  beneficent 
government. 

At  least  congress  thought  so  ;  and  in  1853  laws  were  passed  for 
the  establishment  of  a  reservation  system  in  California,  and  large 
appropriations  were  made  to  carry  it  into  effect.  Tracts  of  land 
of  twenty-five  thousand  acres  were  ordered  to  be  set  apart  for 


THE  INDIAN  RESERVATIONS  OF  CALIFORNIA.         307 

the  use  of  the  Indians  ;  officers  were  appointed  to  supervise  the 
affairs  of  the  service ;  clothing,  cattle,  seeds,  and  agricultural 
implements  were  purchased;  and  a  general  invitation  was  ex- 
tended to  the  various  tribes  to  come  in  and  learn  how  to  work 
like  white  men.  The  first  reservation  was  established  at  the 
Tejon,  a  beautiful  and  fertile  valley  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
state.  Head-quarters  for  the  employes,  and  large  granaries  for 
the  crops,  were  erected.  The  Indians  were  feasted  on  cattle,  and 
every  thing  promised  favorably.  True,  it  cost  a  great  deal  to 
get  started,  about  $250,000 ;  but  a  considerable  crop  was  raised, 
and  there  was  every  reason  to  hope  that  the  experiment  would 
prove  successful.  In  the  course  of  time  other  reservations  were 
established,  one  in  the  foot-hills  of  the  Sacramento  valley,  at  a 
place  called  Nome  Lackee  ;  one  at  the  mouth  of  the  Noyo  river, 
south  of  Cape  Mendocino;  and  one  on  the  Klamath,  below 
Crescent  City ;  besides  which,  there  were  Indian  farms,  or  ad- 
juncts, of  these  reservations  at  the  Fresno,  Nome  Cult  or  Round 
valley,  the  Mattole  valley,  near  Cape  Mendocino,  and  other  points 
where  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  give  aid  and  instruction  to  the 
Indians.  The  cost  of  these  establishments  was  such  as  to  justify 
the  most  sanguine  anticipations  of  their  success. 

In  order  that  the  appropriations  might  be  devoted  to  their 
legitimate  purpose,  and  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  instruc- 
tion furnished  at  the  least  expense,  the  executive  department 
adopted  the  policy  of  selecting  officers  experienced  in  the  arts  of 
public  speaking,  and  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  prevailing 
systems  of  primary  elections.  A  similar  policy  had  been  found 
to  operate  beneficially  in  the  case  of  collectors  of  customs,  and 
there  was  no  reason  why  it  should  not  in  other  branches  of  the 
public  service.  Gentlemen  skilled  in  the  tactics  of  state  legisla- 
tures, and  capable  of  influencing  those  refractory  bodies  by  the 
exercise  of  moral  suasion,  could  be  relied  upon  to  deal  with  the 
Indians,  who  are  not  so  far  advanced  in  the  arts  of  civilization, 
and  whose  necessities,  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view,  are  not 
usually  so  urgent.  Besides,  it  was  known  that  the  Digger  tribes 
were  exceedingly  ignorant  of  our  political  institutions ;  and  re- 
quired more  instruction,  perhaps,  in  this  branch  of  knowledge 


308  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

than  in  any  other.  The  most  intelligent  of  the  chiefs  actually 
had  no  more  idea  of  the  respective  merits  of  the  great  candidates 
for  senatorial  honors  in  California  than  if  those  distinguished 
gentlemen  had  never  been  born.  As  to  primary  meetings  and 
caucuses,  the  poor  Diggers,  in  their  simplicity,  were  just  as  apt 
to  mistake  them  for  some  favorite  game  of  thimble-rig  or  pitch- 
penny  as  for  the  practical  exercise  of  the  great  system  of  free 
suffrage.  They  could  not  make  out  why  men  should  drink  so 
much  whisky  and  swear  so  hard  unless  they  were  gambling ;  and 
if  any  further  proof  was  necessary,  it  was  plain  to  see  that  the 
game  was  one  of  hazard,  because  the  players  were  constantly 
whispering  to  each  other  and  passing  money  from  hand  to  hand, 
and  from  pocket  to  pocket.  The  only  difference  they  could  see 
between  the  different  parties  was  that  some  had  more  money 
than  others,  but  they  had  no  idea  where  it  came  from.  To  en- 
lighten them  on  all  these  points  was,  doubtless,  the  object  of  the 
great  appointing  powers  in  selecting  good  political  speakers  to 
preside  over  them.  After  buildig  their  houses,  it  was  presumed 
that  there  would  be  plenty  of  stumps  left  in  the  woods  from  which 
they  could  be  taught  to  make  speeches  on  the  great  questions. of 
the  day ;  and  where  a  gratifying  scene  might  be  witnessed,  at 
no  remote  period,  of  big  and  little  Diggers  holding  forth  from 
every  stump  in  support  of  the  presiding  administration.  For 
men  who  possessed  an  extraordinary  capacity  for  drinking  ardent 
spirits  ;  who  could  number  among  their  select  friends  the  most 
notorious  vagrants  and  gamblers  in  the  state ;  who  spent  their 
days  in  idleness  and  their  nights  in  brawling  grog-shops  —  whose 
habits,  in  short,  were  in  every  way  disreputable  —  the  authorities 
in  Washington  entertained  a  very  profound  antipathy.  I  know 
this  to  be  the  case,  because  the  most  stringent  regulations  were 
established  prohibiting  persons  in  the  service  from  getting  drunk, 
and  official  orders  written  warning  them  that  they  would  be 
promptly  removed  in  case  of  any  misconduct.  Circular  letters 
were  also  issued,  and  posted  up  at  the  different  reservations,  for- 
bidding the  employes  to  adopt  the  wives  of  the  Indians,  which  it 
was  supposed  they  might  attempt  to  do  from  too  zealous  a  dispo- 
sition to  cultivate  friendly  relations  with  both  sexes.  In  support 


THE  INDIAN  RESERVATIONS  OF  CALIFORNIA.         309 

of  this  policy,  the  California  delegation  made  it  a  point  never  to 
indorse  any  person  for  office  in  the  service  who  was  not  consi- 
dered peculiarly  deserving  of  patronage.  They  knew  exactly  the 
kind  of  men  that  were  wanted,  because  they  lived  in  the  state  and 
had  read  about  the  Indians  in  the  newspapers.  Some  of  them 
had  even  visited  a  few  of  the  wigwams.  Having  the  public 
welfare  at  heart  —  a  fact  that  can  not  be  doubted,  since  they  re- 
peatedly asserted  it  in  their  speeches  —  they  saw  where  the  great 
difficulty  lay,  and  did  all  in  their  power  to  aid  the  executive. 
They  indorsed  the  very  best  friends  they  had  —  gentlemen  who 
had  contributed  to  their  election,  and  fought  for  them  through 
thick  and  thin.  The  capacity  of  such  persons  for  conducting  the 
affairs  of  a  reservation  could  not  be  doubted.  If  they  had  culti- 
vated an  extensive  acquaintance  among  pot-house  voters,  of 
course  they  must  understand  the  cultivation  of  potatoes  and 
onions  ;  if  they  could  control  half  a  dozen  members  of  the  legis- 
lature in  a  senatorial  contest,  why  not  be  able  to  control  Indians, 
who  were  not  near  so  difficult  to  manage  ?  if  they  could  swallow 
obnoxious  measures  of  the  administration,  were  they  not  qualified 
to  teach  savages  how  to  swallow  government  provisions  ?  if  they 
were  honest  enough  to  avow,  in  the  face  of  corrupt  and  hostile 
factions,  that  they  stood  by  the  constitution,  and  always  meant 
to  stand  by  the  same  broad  platform,  were  they  not  honest 
enough  to  disburse  public  funds? 

In  one  respect,  I  think  the  policy  of  the  government  was  un- 
fortunate —  that  is,  in  the  disfavor  with  which  persons  of  intem- 
perate and  disreputable  habits  were  regarded.  Men  of  this 
kind  —  and  they  are  not  difficult  to  find  in  California  —  could 
do  a  great  deal  toward  meliorating  the  moral  condition  of  the 
Indians  by  drinking  up  all  the  whisky  that  might  be  smuggled 
on  the  reservations,  and  behaving  so  disreputably  in  general  that 
no  Indian,  however  degraded  in  his  propensities,  could  fail  to 
become  ashamed  of  such  low  vices. 

In  accordance  with  the  views  of  the  department,  it  was  deemed 
to  be  consistent  with  decency  that  these  untutored  savages  should 
be  clothed  in  a  more  becoming  costume  than  Nature  had  bestowed 
upon  them.  Most  of  them  were  as  ignorant  of  covering  as  they 


310  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

were  of  the  Lecompton  constitution.  With  the  exception  of  a 
few  who  had  worked  for  the  settlers,  they  made  their  first  ap- 
pearance on  the  reservations  very  much  as  they  appeared  when 
they  first  saw  daylight.  It  was  a  great  ohject  to  make  them 
sensible  of  the  advantages  of  civilization  by  covering  their  backs 
while  cultivating  their  brains.  Blankets,  shirts,  and  pantaloons, 
therefore,  were  purchased  for  them  in  large  quantities.  It  is 
presumed  that  when  the  department  read  the  vouchers  for  these 
articles  and  for  the  potatoes,  beans,  and  cattle  that  were  so  plen- 
tifully sprinkled  through  the  accounts,  it  imagined  that  it  was 
"  clothing  the  naked  and  feeding  the  hungry !" 

The  blankets,  to  be  sure,  were  very  thin,  and  cost  a  great  deal 
of  money  in  proportion  to  their  value ;  but,  then,  peculiar  ad- 
vantages were  to  be  derived  from  the  transparency  of  the  fabric. 
In  some  respects  the  worst  material  might  be  considered  the 
most  economical.  By  holding  his  blanket  to  the  light  an  Indian 
could  enjoy  the  contemplation  of  both  sides  of  it  at  the  same 
time ;  and  it  would  only  require  a  little  instruction  in  architect- 
ure to  enable  him  to  use  it  occasionally  as  a  window  to  his  wig- 
wam. Every  blanket  being  marked  by  a  number  of  blotches,  he 
could  carry  his  window  on  his  back  whenever  he  went  out  on 
a  foraging  expedition,  so  as  to  know  the  number  of  his  residence 
when  he  returned,  as  the  citizens  of  Schilda  carried  their  doors 
when  they  went  away  from  home,  in  order  that  they  should  not 
forget  where  they  lived.  Nor  was  it  the  least  important  consider- 
ation, that  when  he  gambled  it  away,  or  sold  it  for  whisky,  he 
would  not  be  subject  to  any  inconvenience  from  a  change  of  tem- 
perature. The  shirts  and  pantaloons  were  in  general  equally 
transparent,  and  possessed  this  additional  advantage,  that  they 
very  soon  cracked  open  in  the  seams,  and  thereby  enabled  the 
squaws  to  learn  how  to  sew. 

As  many  of  the  poor  wretches  were  afflicted  with  diseases  in- 
cident to  their  mode  of  life,  and  likely  to  contract  others  from 
the  white  employes  of  the  reservations,  physicians  were  appointed 
to  give  them  medicine.  Of  course  Indians  required  a  peculiar 
mode  of  treatment.  They  spoke  a  barbarous  jargon,  and  it  was 
not  possible  that  any  thing  but  barbarous  compounds  could  ope- 


THE  INDIAN  RESERVATIONS  OF  CALIFORNIA.        311 

rate  on  their  bowels.  Of  what  use  would  it  be  to  waste  good 
medicines  on  stomachs  that  were  incapable  of  comprehending 
their  use  ?  Accordingly,  any  deficiency  in  the  quality  was  made 
up  by  the  quantity  and  variety.  Old  drug  stores  were  cleared  of 
their  rubbish,  and  vast  quantities  of  croton  oil,  saltpetre,  alum, 
paint,  scent-bottles,  mustard,  vinegar,  and  other  valuable  laxa- 
tives, diaphoretics,  and  condiments  were  supplied  for  their  use. 
The  result  was,  that,  aided  by  the  peculiar  system  of  diet  adopted, 
the  physicians  were  enabled  very  soon  to  show  a  considerable 
roll  of  patients.  In  cases  where  the  blood  was  ascertained  to  be 
scorbutic,  the  patients  were  allowed  to  go  out  in  the  valleys,  and 
subsist  for  a  few  months  on  clover  or  grass,  which  was  regarded 
as  a  sovereign  remedy.  I  was  assured  at  one  reservation  that 
fresh  spring  grass  had  a  more  beneficial  effect  on  them  than  the 
medicines,  as  it  generally  purged  them.  The  department  was 
fully  advised  of  these  facts  in  elaborate  reports  made  by  its  special 
emissaries,  and  congratulated  itself  upon  the  satisfactory  progress 
of  the  system.  The  elections  were  going  all  right  —  the  country 
was  safe.  Feeding  Indians  on  grass  was  advancing  them  at  least 
one  step  toward  a  knowledge  of  the  sacred  scriptures.  It  was 
following  the  time-honored  precedent  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  the 
king  of  Babylon,  who  was  driven  from  men  and  did  eat  grass  as 
oxen,  and  was  wet  with  the  dews  of  heaven  till  his  hairs  were 
grown  like  eagles'  feathers,  and  his  nails  like  birds'  claws.  An 
ounce  of  croton  oil  would  go  a  great  way  in  lubricating  the  in- 
testines of  an  entire  tribe  of  Indians ;  and  if  the  paint  could  not 
be  strictly  classed  with  any  of  the  medicines  known  in  the  official 
dispensary,  it  might  at  least  be  used  for  purposes  of  clothing 
during  the  summer  months.  Red  or  green  pantaloons  painted 
on  the  legs  of  the  Indians,  and  striped  blue  shirts  artistically 
marked  out  on  their  bodies,  would  be  at  once  cool,  economical, 
and  picturesque.  If  these  things  cost  a  great  deal  of  money,  as 
appeared  by  the  vouchers,  it  was  a  consolation  to  know  that, 
money  being  the  root  of  all  evil,  no  injurious  effects  could  grow 
out  of  such  a  root  after  it  had  been  once  thoroughly  eradicated. 

The  Indians  were  also  taught  the  advantages  to  be  derived 
from  the  cultivation  of  the  earth.     Large  supplies  of  potatoes 


312  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

were  purchased  in  San  Francisco,  at  about  double  what  they  were 
worth  in  the  vicinity  of  the  reservations.  There  were  only  twenty- 
five  thousand  acres  of  public  land  available  at  each  place  for  the 
growth  of  potatoes  or  any  other  esculent  for  which  the  hungry 
natives  might  have  a  preference ;  but  it  was  much  easier  to  pur- 
chase potatoes  than  to  make  farmers  out  of  the  white  men  em- 
ployed to  teach  them  how  to  cultivate  the  earth.  Sixteen  or 
seventeen  men  on  each  reservation  had  about  as  much  as  they 
could  do  to  attend  to  their  own  private  claims,  and  keep  the 
natives  from  eating  their  private  crops.  It  was  not  the  policy  of 
government  to  reward  its  friends  for  their  "  adhesion  to  the  con- 
stitution "  by  requiring  them  to  perform  any  practical  labor  at 
seventy-five  or  a  hundred  dollars  a  month,  which  was  scarcely 
double  the  current  wages  of  the  day.  Good  men  could  obtain 
employment  any  where  by  working  for  their  wages ;  but  it  re- 
quired the  best  kind  of  administration  men  to  earn  extraordi- 
nary compensations  by  an  extraordinary  amount  of  idleness.  Not 
that  they  were  all  absolutely  worthless.  On  the  contrary,  some 
spent  their  time  in  hunting,  others  in  riding  about  the  country, 
and  a  considerable  number  in  laying  out  and  supervising  private 
claims,  aided  by  Indian  labor  and  government  provisions. 

The  official  reports  transmitted  to  congress  from  time  to  time 
gave  flattering  accounts  of  the  progress  of  the  system.  The  ex- 
tent and  variety  of  the  crops  were  fabulously  grand.  Immense 
numbers  of  Indians  were  fed  and  clothed  —  on  paper.  Like 
little  children  who  cry  for  medicines,  it  would  appear  that  the 
whole  red  race  were  so  charmed  with  the  new  schools  of  industry 
that  they  were  weeping  to  be  removed  there  and  set  to  work. 
Indeed  many  of  them  had  already  learned  to  work  "  like  white 
men ;"  they  were  bending  to  it  cheerfully,  and  could  handle  the 
plow  and  the  sickle  very  skillfully,  casting  away  their  bows  and 
arrows  arid  adopting  the  more  effective  instruments  of  agricul- 
ture. ISTo  mention  was  made  of  the  fact  that  these  working  In- 
dians had  acquired  their  knowledge  from  the  settlers,  and  that  if 
they  worked  after  the  fashion  of  the  white  men  on  the  reserva- 
tions, it  was  rarely  any  of  them  were  obliged  to  go  to  the  hospital 
in  consequence  of  injuries  resulting  to  the  spinal  column.  The 


THE  INDIAN  RESERVATIONS  OF  CALIFORNIA.          313 

favorite  prediction  of  the  officers  in  charge  was,  that  in  a  very 
short  time  these  institutions  would  be  self-sustaining  —  that  is  to 
say,  that  neither  they  nor  the  Indians  would  want  any  more 
money  after  a  while. 

It  may  seem  strange  that  the  appropriations  demanded  of  con- 
gress did  not  decrease  in  a  ratio  commensurate  with  these  flatter- 
ing reports.  The  self-sustaining  period  had  not  yet  come.  On 
the  contrary,  as  the  Indians  were  advancing  into  the  higher 
branches  of  education  —  music,  dancing,  and  the  fine  arts,  moral 
philosophy  and  ethics,  political  economy,  etc. —  it  required  more 
money  to  teach  them.  The  number  had  been  considerably 
diminished  by  death  and  desertion ;  but  then  their  appetites  had 
improved,  and  they  were  getting  a  great  deal  smarter.  Besides, 
politics  were  becoming  sadly  entangled  in  the  state,  and  many 
agents  had  to  be  employed  in  the  principal  cities  to  protect  the 
women  and  children  from  any  sudden  invasion  of  the  natives, 
while  the  patriotic  male  citizens  were  at  the  polls  depositing 
their  votes. 

The  department,  no  doubt,  esteemed  all  this  to  be  a  close  ap- 
proximation to  the  Spanish  mission  system,  and  in  some  respects 
it  was.  The  priests  sought  the  conversion  of  heathens,  who  be- 
lieved neither  in  the  Divinity  nor  the  Holy  Ghost ;  the  depart- 
ment the  conversion  of  infidels,  who  had  no  faith  in  the  measures 
of  the  administration.  If  there  was  any  material  difference,  it 
was  in  the  Head  of  the  church  and  the  missionaries  appointed 
to  carry  its  views  into  effect. 

But  the  most  extraordinary  feature  in  the  history  of  this  ser- 
vice in  California  was  the  interpretation  given  by  the  Federal 
authorities  in  "Washington  to  the  Independent  Treasury  Act  of 
1846.  That  stringent  provision,  prohibiting  any  public  officer 
from  using  for  private  purposes,  loaning,  or  depositing  in  any 
bank  or  banking  institution  any  public  funds  committed  to  his 
charge ;  transmitting  for  settlement  any  voucher  for  a  greater 
amount  than  that  actually  paid ;  or  appropriating  such  funds  to 
any  other  purpose  than  that  prescribed  by  law,  was  so  amended 
in  the  construction  of  the  department  as  to  mean,  "  except  in 
cases  where  such  officer  has  rendered  peculiar  services  to  the 


314  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

party  and  possesses  strong  influences  in  congress."  "When  any 
infraction  of  the  law  was  reported,  it  was  subjected  to  the  test  of 
this  amended  reading;  and  if  the  conditions  were  found  satisfac- 
tory, the  matter  was  disposed  of  in  a  pigeon-hole.  An  adroit 
system  of  accountability  was  established  by  which  no  property 
return,  abstract  of  issues,  account  current,  or  voucher,  was  under- 
stood to  mean  what  it  expressed  upon  its  face,  so  that  no  account- 
ing officer  possessing  a  clew  to  the  policy  adopted  could  be 
deceived  by  the  figures.  Thus  it  was  perfectly  well  understood 
that  five  hundred  or  a  thousand  head  of  cattle  did  not  necessarily 
mean  real  cattle  with  horns,  legs,  and  tails,  actually  born  in  the 
usual  course  of  nature,  purchased  for  money,  and  delivered  on 
the  reservations ;  but  prospective  cattle,  that  might  come  into 
existence  and  be  wanted  at  some  future  period.  For  all  the  good 
the  Indians  got  of  them,  it  might  as  well  be  five  hundred  or  a 
thousand  head  of  voters,  for  they  no  more  fed  upon  beef,  as  a 
general  thing,  than  they  did  upon  human  flesh. 

Neither  was  it  beyond  the  capacity  of  the  department  to  com- 
prehend that  traveling  expenses,  on  special  Indian  service,  might 
just  as  well  mean  a  trip  to  the  convention  at  Sacramento  ;  that 
guides  and  assistants  were  a  very  indefinite  class  of  gentlemen  of 
a  roving  turn  of  mind ;  that  expenses  incurred  in  visiting  wild 
tribes  and  settling  difficulties  among  them  did  not  necessarily 
involve  the  exclusion  of  difficulties  among  the  party  factions  in 
the  legislature.  In  short,  the  original  purpose  of  language  was 
so  perverted  in  the  official  correspondence  that  it  had  no  more 
to  do  with  the  expression  of  facts  than  many  of  the  employes  had 
to  do  with  the  Indians.  The  reports  and  regulations  of  the  de- 
partment actually  bordered  on  the  poetical.  It  was  enough  to 
bring  tears  into  the  eyes  of  any  feeling  man  to  read  the  affecting 
dissertations  that  were  transmitted  to  congress  on  the  woes  of 
the  red  men,  and  the  labors  of  the  public  functionaries  to  melio- 
rate their  unhappy  condition.  Faith,  hope,  and  charity  abounded 
in  them.  "  See  what  we  are  doing  for  these  poor  children  of  the 
forest!"  was  the  burden  of  the  song,  in  a  strain  worthy  the  most 
pathetic  flights  of  Mr.  Pecksniff;  "  see  how  faithful  we  are  to 
our  trusts,  and  how  judiciously  we  expend  the  appropriations  ! 


THE  INDIAN  RESERVATIONS  OF  CALIFORNIA.  315 

Yet  they  die  off  in  spite  of  us  —  wither  away  as  the  leaves  of  the 
trees  in  autumn  !  Let  us  hope,  nevertheless,  that  the  beneficent 
intentions  of  congress  may  yet  be  realized.  We  are  the  guardians 
of  these  unfortunate  and  defenseless  beings  ;  they  are  our  wards ; 
it  is  our  duty  to  take  care  of  them  ;  we  can  afford  to  be  liberal, 
and  spend  a  little  more  money  on  them.  Through  the  judicious 
efforts  of  our  public  functionaries,  and  the  moral  influences 
spread  around  them,  there  is  reason  to  believe  they  will  yet  em- 
brace civilization  and  Christianity,  and  become  useful  members 
of  society."  In  accordance  with  these  views  the  regulations 
issued  by  the  department,  were  of  the  most  stringent  character  — 
encouraging  economy,  industry,  and  fidelity ;  holding  all  agents 
and  employes  to  a  strict  accountability ;  with  here  and  there 
some  instructive  maxim  of  morality  —  all  of  which,  upon  being 
translated,  meant  that  politicians  are  very  smart  fellows,  and  it 
was  not  possible  for  them  to  humbug  one  another.  "  Do  your 
duty  to  the  Indians  as  far  as  you  can  conveniently,  and  without 
too  great  a  sacrifice  of  money ;  but  stand  by  our  friends,  and 
save  the  party  by  all  means  and  at  all  hazards.  Verbum  s«p  /" 
was  the  practical  construction. 

"When  public  clamor  called  attention  to  these  supposed  abuses, 
and  it  became  necessary  to  make  some  effective  demonstration 
of  honesty,  a  special  agent  was  directed  to  examine  into  the  affairs 
of  the  service  and  report  the  result.  It  was  particularly  enjoined 
upon  him  to  investigate  every  complaint  affecting  the  integrity 
of  public  officers,  collect  and  transmit  the  proofs  of  malfeasance 
with  his  own  views  in  the  premises,  so  that  every  abuse  might  be 
uprooted  and  cast  out  of  the  service.  Decency  in  official  con- 
duct must  be  respected  and  the  public  eye  regarded !  Peremp- 
tory measures  would  be  taken  to  suppress  all  frauds  upon  the 
treasury.  It  was  the  sincere  desire  of  the  administration  to  pre- 
serve purity  and  integrity  in  the  public  service. 

From  mail  to  mail,  during  a  period  of  three  years,  the  agent 
made  his  reports  ;  piling  up  proof  upon  proof,  and  covering  acres 
of  valuable  paper  with  protests  and  remonstrances  against  the 
policy  pursued  j  racking  his  brains  to  do  his  duty  faithfully ;  sub- 
jecting himself  to  newspaper  abuse  for  neglecting  it,  because  no 


316  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

beneficial  result  was  perceptible,  and  making  enemies  as  a  matter 
of  course.  Reader,  if  ever  you  aspire  to  official  honors,  let  the 
fate  of  that  unfortunate  agent  be  a  warning  to  you.  He  did 
exactly  what  he  was  instructed  to  do,  which  was  exactly  what  he 
was  not  wanted  to  do.  In  order  to  save  time  and  expense,  as 
well  as  further  loss  of  money  in  the  various  branches  of  public 
service  upon  which  he  had  reported,  other  agents  were  sent  out 
to  ascertain  if  he  had  told  the  truth  ;  and  when  they  were  forced 
to  admit  that  he  had,  there  was  a  good  deal  of  trouble  in  the 
wigwam  of  the  great  chief.  ISTot  only  did  poor  Yorick  incur  the 
hostility  of  powerful  senatorial  influences,  but  by  persevering  in 
his  error,  and  insisting  that  he  had  told  the  truth,  the  whole 
truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  he  eventually  lost  the  respect 
and  confidence  of  the  "  powers  that  be,"  together  with  his  offi- 
cial head.  I  knew  him  well.  He  was  a  fellow  of  infinite 
jest.  There  was  something  so  exquisitely  comic  in  the  idea  of 
taking  official  instructions  literally,  and  carrying  them  into  effect, 
that  he  could  not  resist  it.  The  humor  of  the  thing  kept  him  in 
a  constant  chuckle  of  internal  satisfaction  ;  but  it  was  the  most 
serious  jest  he  ever  perpetrated,  for  it  cost  him,  besides  the  trou- 
ble of  carrying  it  out,  the  loss  of  a  very  comfortable  per  diem. 

The  results  of  the  policy  pursued  were  precisely  such  as  might 
have  been  expected.  A  very  large  amount  of  money  was  annu- 
ally expended  in  feeding  white  men  and  starving  Indians.  Such 
of  the  latter  as  were  physically  able  took  advantage  of  the  tickets- 
of-leave  granted  them  so  freely,  and  left.  Very  few  ever  remained 
at  these  benevolent  institutions  when  there  was  a  possibility  of 
getting  anything  to  eat  in  the  woods.  Every  year  numbers  of 
them  perished  from  neglect  and  disease,  and  some  from  absolute 
starvation.  "When  it  was  represented  in  the  official  reports  that 
two  or  three  thousand  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  aid  from  govern- 
ment within  the  limits  of  each  district  —  conveying  the  idea  that 
they  were  fed  and  clothed  at  public  expense  —  it  must  have 
meant  that  the  territory  of  California  originally  cost  the  United 
States  fifteen  millions  of  dollars,  and  that  the  nuts  and  berries 
upon  which  the  Indians  subsisted,  and  the  fig-leaves  in  which 
they  were  supposed  to  be  clothed,  were  embraced  within  the 
cessions  made  by  Mexico.  At  all  events,  it  invariably  happened, 


THE  INDIAN  RESERVATIONS  OF  CALIFORNIA.         317 

when  a  visitor  appeared  on  the  reservations,  that  the  Indians 
were  "  out  in  the  mountains  gathering  nuts  and  berries."  This 
was  the  case  in  spring,  summer,  autumn,  and  winter.  They 
certainly  possessed  a  remarkable  predilection  for  staying  out  a 
long  time.  Very  few  of  them,  indeed,  have  yet  come  back.  The 
only  difference  between  the  existing  state  of  things  and  that 
which  existed  prior  to  the  inauguration  of  the  system  is,  that 
there  were  then  some  thousands  of  Indians  living  within  the 
limits  of  the  districts  set  apart  for  reservation  purposes,  whereas 
there  are  now  only  some  hundreds.  In  the  brief  period  of  six 
years  they  have  been  very  nearly  destro}Ted  by  the  generosity  of 
government.  What  neglect,  starvation,  and  disease  have  not 
done,  has  been  achieved  by  the  cooperation  of  the  white  settlers 
in  the  great  work  of  extermination. 

No  pretext  has  been  wanted ;  no  opportunity  lost,  whenever  it 
has  been  deemed  necessary  to  get  them  out  of  the  way.  At  Nome 
Cult  valley,  during  the  winter  of  1858-'59,  more  than  a  hundred 
and  fifty  peaceable  Indians,  including  women  and  children,  were 
cruelly  slaughtered  by  the  whites  who  had  settled  there  under 
official  authority,  and  most  of  whom  derived  their  support  either 
from  actual  or  indirect  connection  with  the  reservation.  Many 
of  them  had  been  in  public  employ,  and  now  enjoyed  the  rewards 
of  their  meritorious  services.  True,  a  notice  was  posted  up  on 
the  trees  that  the  valley  was  public  land  reserved  for  Indian  pur- 
poses, and  not  open  to  settlement;  but  nobody,  either  in  or  out 
of  the  service,  paid  any  attention  to  that,  as  a  matter  of  course. 
"When  the  Indians  were  informed  that  it  was  their  home,  and 
were  invited  there  on  the  pretext  that  they  would  be  protected} 
it  was  very  well  understood  that  as  soon  as  government  had 
spent  money  enough  there  to  build  up  a  settlement  sufficiently 
strong  to  maintain  itself,  they  would  enjoy  very  slender  chances 
of  protection.  It  was  alleged  that  they  had  driven  off  and  eaten 
private  cattle.  There  were  some  three  or  four  hundred  head  of 
public  cattle  on  the  property  returns,  all  supposed  to  be  ranging 
in  the  same  vicinity ;  but  the  private  cattle  must  have  been  a 
great  deal  better,  owing  to  some  superior  capacity  for  eating 
grass.  Upon  an  investigation  of  this  charge,  made  by  the  officers 


318  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

of  the  army,  it  was  found  to  be  entirely  destitute  of  truth  ;  a  few 
cattle  had  been  lost,  or  probably  killed  by  white  men,  and  this 
was  the  whole  basis  of  the  massacre.  Armed  parties  went  into 
the  rancherias  in  open  day,  when  no  evil  was  apprehended,  and 
shot  the  Indians  down  —  weak,  harmless,  and  defenseless  as  they 
were  —  without  distinction  of  age  or  sex ;  shot  down  women 
with  sucking  babes  at  their  breasts ;  killed  or  crippled  the  naked 
children  that  were  running  about;  and,  after  they  had  achieved 
this  brave  exploit,  appealed  to  the  state  government  for  aid ! 
Oh,  shame,  shame !  where  is  thy  blush,  that  white  men  should 
do  this  with  impunity  in  a  civilized  country,  under  the  very  eyes 
of  an  enlightened  government !  They  did  it,  and  they  did  more  ! 
For  days,  weeks,  and  months  they  ranged  the  hills  of  Nome 
Cult,  killing  every  Indian  that  was  too  weak  to  escape ;  and, 
what  is  worse,  they  did  it  under  a  state  commission,  which  in  all 
charity  I  must  believe  was  issued  upon  false  representations.  A 
more  cruel  series  of  outrages  than  those  perpetrated  upon  the 
poor  Indians  of  Nome  Cult  never  disgraced  a  community  of  white 
men.  The  state  said  the  settlers  must  be  protected,  and  it  pro- 
tected them  —  protected  them  from  women  and  children,  for  the 
men  are  too  imbecile  and  too  abject  to  fight.  The  general  go- 
vernment folded  its  arms  and  said,  "  "What  can  we  do  ?  We  can 
not  chastise  the  citizens  of  a  state.  Are  we  not  feeding  and 
clothing  the  savages,  and  teaching  them  to  be  moral,  and  is  not 
that  as  much  as  the  civilized  world  can  ask  of  us  ?" 

At  King's  river,  where  there  was  a  public  farm  maintained  at 
considerable  expense,  the  Indians  were  collected  in  a  body  of  two 
or  three  hundred,  and  the  wrhite  settlers,  who  complained  that 
government  would  not  do  any  thing  for  them,  drove  them  over 
to  the  agency  at  the  Fresno.  After  an  expenditure  of  some  thirty 
thousand  dollars  a  year  for  six  years,  that  farm  had  scarcely 
produced  six  blades  of  grass,  and  was  entirely  unable  to  support 
over  a  few  dozen  Indians  who  had  always  lived  there,  and  who 
generally  foraged  for  their  own  subsistence.  The  new-comers, 
therefore,  stood  a  poor  chance  till  the  agent  purchased  from  the 
white  settlers,  on  public  account,  the  acorns  which  they  (the  In- 
dians) had  gathered  and  laid  up  for  winter  use  at  King's  river. 


THE  INDIAN  RESERVATIONS  OF  CALIFORNIA.         319 

Notwithstanding  the  acorns  they  were  very  soon  starved  out  at 
the  Fresno,  and  wandered  away  to  find  a  subsistence  wherever 
they  could.  Many  of  them  perished  of  hunger  on  the  plains  of 
the  San  Joaquin.  The  rest  are  presumed  to  he  in  the  mountains 
gathering  berries. 

At  the  Mattole  station,  near  Cape  Mendocino,  a  number  of 
Indians  were  murdered  on  the  public  farm  within  a  few  hundred 
yards  of  the  head-quarters.  The  settlers  in  the  valley  alleged 
that  government  would  not  support  them,  or  take  any  care  of 
them  ;  and  as  settlers  were  not  paid  for  doing  it,  they  must  kill 
them  to  get  rid  of  them. 

At  Humboldt  bay,  and  in  the  vicinity,  a  series  of  Indian  massa- 
cres by  white  men  continued  for  over  two  years.  The  citizens 
held  public  meetings,  and  protested  against  the  action  of  the 
general  government  in  leaving  these  Indians  to  prowl  upon  them 
for  a  support.  It  was  alleged  that  the  reservations  cost  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  yet  nothing  was 
done  to  relieve  the  people  of  this  burden.  Petitions  were  finally 
sent  to  the  state  authorities,  asking  for  the  removal  of  the  Indians 
from  that  vicinity ;  and  the  state  sent  out  its  militia,  killed  a  good 
many,  and  captured  a  good  many  others,  who  were  finally  carried 
down  to  the  Mendocino  reservation.  They  liked  that  place  so 
well  that  they  left  it  very  soon,  and  went  back  to  their  old  places 
of  resort,  preferring  a  chance  of  life  to  the  certainty  of  starvation. 
During  the  winter  of  last  year  a  number  of  them  were  gathered 
at  Humboldt.  The  whites  thought  it  was  a  favorable  opportunity 
to  get  rid  of  them  altogether.  So  they  went  in  a  body  to  the 
Indian  camp,  during  the  night  when  the  poor  wretches  were 
asleep,  shot  all  the  men,  women,  and  children  they  could  at  the 
first  onslaught,  and  cut  the  throats  of  the  remainder.  Very  few 
escaped.  Next  morning  sixty  bodies  lay  weltering  in  their 
blood — the  old  and  the  young,  male  and  female  —  with  every 
wound  gaping  a  tale  of  horror  to  the  civilized  world.  Children 
climbed  upon  their  mothers'  breasts,  and  sought  nourishment 
from  the  fountains  that  death  had  drained ;  girls  and  boys  lay 
here  and  there  with  their  throats  cut  from  ear  to  ear ;  men  and 
women,  clinging  to  each  other  in  their  terror,  were  found  per- 


320  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

forated  with  bullets  or  cut  to  pieces  with  knives  —  all  were 
cruelly  murdered !  Let  any  who  doubt  this  read  the  newspapers 
of  San  Francisco  of  that  date.  It  will  be  found  there  in  its  most 
bloody  and  tragic  details.  Let  them  read  of  the  Pitt  river  massa- 
cre, and  of  all  the  massacres  that  for  the  past  three  years  have 
darkened  the  records  of  the  state. 

I  will  do  the  white  people  who  were  engaged  in  these  massa- 
cres the  justice  to  say  that  they  were  not  so  much  to  blame  as 
the  general  government.  They  had  at  least  given  due  warning 
of  their  intention.  For  years  they  had  burdened  the  mails  with 
complaints  of  the  inefficiency  of  the  agents  ;  they  had  protested 
in  the  newspapers,  in  public  meetings,  in  every  conceivable  way, 
and  on  every  possible  occasion,  against  the  impolicy  of  permitting 
these  Indians  to  roam  about  the  settlements,  picking  up  a  sub- 
sistence in  whatever  way  they  could,  when  there  was  a  fund  of 
$250,000  a  year  appropriated  by  congress  for  their  removal  to 
and  support  on  the  reservations.  What  were  these  establishments 
for  ?  Why  did  they  not  take  charge  of  the  Indians  ?  Where  were 
the  agents  ?  What  was  done  with  the  money  ?  It  was  repeatedly 
represented  that  unless  something  was  done  the  Indians  would 
soon  all  be  killed.  They  could  no  longer  make  a  subsistence  in 
their  old  haunts.  The  progress  of  settlement  had  driven  them 
from  place  to  place  till  there  was  no  longer  a  spot  on  earth  they 
could  call  their  own.  Their  next  move  could  only  be  into  the 
Pacific  ocean.  If  ever  an  unfortunate  people  needed  a  few  acres 
of  ground  to  stand  upon,  and  the  poor  privilege  of  making  a 
living  for  themselves,  it  was  these  hapless  Diggers.  As  often  as 
they  tried  the  reservations  sad  experience  taught  them  that  these 
were  institutions  for  the  benefit  of  white  men,  not  Indians.  It 
was  wonderful  how  the  employes  had  prospered  on  their  salaries. 
They  owned  fine  ranches  in  the  vicinity  ;  in  fact,  the  reservations 
themselves  were  pretty  much  covered  with  the  claims  of  persons 
in  the  service,  who  thought  they  would  make  nice  farms  for 
white  men.  The  principal  work  done  was  to  attend  to  sheep  and 
cattle  speculations,  and  make  shepherds  out  of  the  few  Indians 
that  were  left. 

What  did  it  signify  that  thirty  thousand  dollars  a  year  had  been 


THE  INDIAN  RESERVATIONS  OF  CALIFORNIA.         321 

expended  at  the  Tejon  ?  thirty  thousand  at  the  Fresno?  fifty 
thousand  at  Nome  Lackee  ?  ten  thousand  at  Nome  Cult  ?  forty- 
eight  thousand  at  Mendocino  ?  sixteen  thousand  at  the  Klamath? 
and  some  fifty  or  sixty  thousand  for  miscellaneous  purposes? 
that  all  this  had  resulted  in  the  reduction  of  a  hundred  thousand 
Indians  to  about  thirty  thousand  ?  Meritorious  services  had  been 
rewarded,  and  a  premium  in  favor  of  public  integrity  issued  to 
an  admiring  world. 

I  am  satisfied,  from  an  acquaintance  of  eleven  years  with  the 
Indians  of  California,  that  had  the  least  care  been  taken  of  them 
these  disgraceful  massacres  would  never  have  occurred.  A  more 
inoffensive  and  harmless  race  of  beings  does  not  exist  on  the 
face  of  the  earth.  But  wherever  they  attempted  to  procure  a 
subsistence  they  were  hunted  down ;  driven  from  the  reserva- 
tions by  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  ;  shot  down  by  the  settlers 
upon  the  most  frivolous  pretexts  ;  and  abandoned  to  their  fate  by 
the  only  power  that  could  have  afforded  them  protection. 

This  was  the  result,  in  plain  terms,  of  the  inefficient  and  dis- 
creditable manner  in  which  public  affairs  were  administered  by 
the  federal  authorities  in  Washington.  It  was  the  natural  con- 
sequence of  a  corrupt  political  system,  which,  for  the  credit  of 
humanity,  it  is  to  be  hoped  will  be  abandoned  in  future  so  far  as 
the  Indians  are  concerned.  They  have  no  voice  in  public  affairs. 
So  long  as  they  are  permitted  to  exist,  party  discipline  is  a  mat- 
ter of  very  little  moment  to  them.  All  they  ask  is  the  privilege 
of  breathing  the  air  that  God  gave  to  us  all,  and  living  in  peace 
wherever  it  may  be  convenient  to  remove  them.  Their  history 
in  California  is  a  melancholy  record  of  neglect  and  cruelty ;  and 
the  part  taken  by  public  men  high  in  position  in  wresting  from 
them  the  very  means  of  subsistence,  is  one  of  which  any  other 
than  professional  politicians  would  be  ashamed.  For  the  execu- 
tive department  there  is  no  excuse.  There  lay  the  power  and 
the  remedy ;  but  a  paltry  and  servile  spirit,  an  abject  submission 
to  every  shifting  influence,  an  utter  absence  of  that  high  moral 
tone  which  is  the  characteristic  trait  of  genuine  statesmen  and 
patriots,  have  been  the  distinguishing  features  of  this  branch  of 
our  government  for  some  time  past.  Disgusted  with  their  own 
22 


322  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

handiwork ;  involved  in  debt  throughout  the  state,  after  wasting 
all  the  money  appropriated  by  congress ;  the  accounts  in  an  in- 
extricable state  of  confusion ;  the  creditors  of  the  government 
clamoring  to  be  paid  ;  the  "  honest  yeomanry  "  turning  against 
the  party  in  power ;  political  aifairs  entangled  beyond  remedy  ; 
it  was  admitted  to  be  a  very  bad  business  —  not  at  all  such  as  to 
meet  the  approval  of  the  administration.  The  appropriation  was 
cut  down  to  fifty  thousand  dollars.  That  would  do  damage 
enough.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  a  year,  for  six  or 
seven  years,  had  inflicted  sufficient  injury  upon  the  poor  Indians. 
Now  it  was  time  to  let  them  alone  on  fifty  thousand,  or  turn  them 
over  to  the  state.  So  the  end  of  it  is,  that  the  reservations  are 
practically  abandoned  —  the  remainder  of  the  Indians  are  being 
exterminated  every  day,  and  the  Spanish  mission  system  has 
signally  failed. 


THE  DOG  SA  CRIFICE  OF  THE  SENEGAS. ' 

BY  SAMUEL  CEOWELL. 

On  the  second  day  of  February,  1830,  I  witnessed  an  interest- 
ing, and  to  me,  a  novel  religious  ceremony  of  the  Seneca  tribe 
of  Indians,  then  occupying  that  portion  of  territory  now  com- 
prising a  part  of  the  counties  of  Seneca,  and  Sandusky,  Ohio, 
familiarly  known  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  region,  as  the  Seneca 
reservation. 

The  fact  that  this  nation  had  recently  ceded  their  reservation 
to  the  United  States,  and  were  now  about  to  commemorate,  for 
the  last  time  in  this  country,  their  annual  festival,  previous  to 
their  emigration  to  the  Rocky  mountains,  contributed  not  a 
little,  to  add  to  it  an  unusual  degree  of  interest. 

To  those  acquainted  with  the  characteristic  traits  of  the  red 
men,  it  is  unnecessary  to  remark,  that  there  is  a  reservedness 
attached  to  them  —  peculiarly  their  own  ;  but,  especially  when 
about  to  celebrate  this  festival,  they  seem,  so  far  at  least  as  the 
pale-faces  are  concerned,  to  shroud  their  designs  in  impenetrable 
secrecy.  And  the  festival  of  which  I  now  speak,  might  have 
been,  as  many  others  of  a  similar  character  were,  observed  by 
themselves  with  due  solemnity,  and  without  the  knowledge  or 
interference  of  their  white  neighbors,  but  that  the  general  poverty 
and  reckless  improvidence  of  the  Senecas  were  proverbial.  And 
those  were  the  causes  which  awakened  the  suspicions  of  the  in- 
quisitive white  man. 

In  order,  therefore,  that  the  approaching  festival  should  not 
lack  in  any  thing  necessary  to  make  it  imposing,  and  impress  a 
permanent  recollection  of  it,  on  the  mind  of  their  rising  race  — 
no  effort  was  spared,  and  no  fatigue  regarded,  that  would  tend 
to  promote  this  object.  Thus  for  some  time  previous  to  the 
period  of  which  I  am  now  speaking,  by  the  unerring  aim  of  the 
Seneca  rifle,  the  antlers,  with  the  body  of  many  a  tall  and  stately 


lKeprinted  from  the  Cincinnati  (O.)  Miscellany  for  February,  1845. 


324  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

buck,  fell  prostrate ;  and  in  crowds  the  Indian  now  came  into 
Lower  Sandusky  with  their  venison,  and  their  skins ;  and  the 
squaws,  with  their  painted  baskets  and  beaded  moccasins,  not  as 
heretofore,  to  barter  for  necessaries,  but  chiefly  for  ornaments ! 

To  the  penetrating  mind  of  the  merchant,  they  thus  betrayed 
their  object ;  to  wit :  that  they  were  preparing  to,  in  the  vulgar 
parlance  of  the  day,  "burn  their  dogs." 

Inquiry  was  now  on  the  alert  to  ascertain  the  precise  period ; 
and  to  the  often  repeated  interrogatory  put  by  the  boys  of  our 
village,  "  Indian,  when  will  you  burn  your  dogs  ?"  — an  evasive 
reply  would  be  given ;  sometimes  saying,  "  may  be  "  (a  very 
common  expression  with  them),  "  two  days,"  —  u  may  be,  three 
days,"  —  "  may  be,  one  week."  Their  object  being  to  baffle  the 
inquirer ;  so  that  the  further  off  the  intended  period  was,  they 
would  give  the  shortest  time  —  and  vice  versa. 

The  principal  head-men,  or  chiefs  of  the  Senecas,  were  Good 
Hunter,  Hard  Hickory,  and  Tall  Chief;  there  were  also  some 
sub  or  half  chiefs  ;  among  those  of  the  latter  rank,  Benjamin  F. 
Warner,  a  white  or  half-breed,  had  considerable  influence.  In 
this,  as  in  other  nations,  civilized  as  well  as  savage,  though  there 
may  be  several  men  of  apparent  equal  rank,  yet  there  usually  is 
one,  who  either  by  artificial,  or  universally  acknowledged  talent, 
directs  in  a  great  measure,  the  destinies  of  the  nation  ;  and  such 
among  the  Senecas,  was  Hard  Hickory. 

To  a  mind  of  no  ordinary  grade,  he  added,  from  his  inter- 
course with  the  whites,  a  polish  of  manner,  seldom  seen  in  an 
Indian.  The  French  language  he  spoke  fluently,  and  the  English, 
intelligibly.  Scrupulously  adhering  to  the  costume  of  his  people, 
and  retaining  many  of  their  habits,  this  chief  was  much  endeared 
to  them ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  his  urbanity,  and  for  an 
Indian,  he  possessed,  as  already  observed,  a  large  share  of  the 
suaviter  in  modo  —  his  intelligence,  his  ardent  attachment  to  the 
whites  —  and  above  all,  his  strict  integrity  in  business  transac- 
tions, obtained  for  him,  and  deservedly,  the  respect  and  confi- 
dence of  all  with  whom  he  traded.  Such  was  the  trust  the 
merchants  of  Lower  Sandusky  reposed  in  this  chief,  that  when 
an  indigent  Indian  came  to  ask  for  goods  on  credit,  if  Hard 


THE  DOG  SACRIFICE  OF  THE  SENEGAS.  325 

Hickory  would  say  he  would  see  the  sum  paid,  no  more  was 
required.  Thus  his  word  passed  current  with,  and  current  for, 
the  whole  nation.  And  as  in  the  mind  of  man  there  is  some- 
thing intuitive,  better  known  than  defined,  by  which  instinctively, 
as  it  were,  we  find  in  the  bosom  of  another  a  response  to  our 
own  feelings;  so  in  the  present  case,  this  noble  Indian  soon  dis- 
covered in  the  late  Obed  Dickinson,  a  merchant  of  Lower  San- 
dusky,  a  generous,  confiding  and  elevated  mind,  whose  honorable 
vibrations  beat  in  unison  with  his  own. 

To  Mr.  Dickinson,  therefore,  he  made  known  the  time  when 
they  would  celebrate  their  festival,  and  cordially  invited  him  to 
attend  as  a  guest,  and  if  so  disposed,  he  might  bring  a  friend  with 
him.  Correctly  supposing  that  I  never  had  an  opportunity  of 
witnessing  this  religious  rite,  Mr.  D.  kindly  requested  me  to 
accompany  him  to  their  council-house,  on  Green  creek,  in  that 
part  of  Sandusky  county  included  in  the  present  township  of 
Green  Creek.  On  giving  me  the  invitation,  Mr.  D.  remarked, 
that  by  taking  a  present  in  our  hand,  we  would,  probably,  be 
made  the  more  welcome.  In  accordance,  therefore,  with  this 
suggestion,  we  took  with  us  a  quantity  of  loaf  sugar  and  tobacco. 

It  was  sometime  in  the  afternoon  of  Feb.  1st  when  we  arrived, 
and  immediately  thereafter,  we  were  ushered  into  the  council 
house  with  demonstrations  of  public  joy  and  marked  respect. 
As  soon  as  seated,  we  gave  our  presents  to  Hard  Hickory,  who, 
rising,  held  one  of  them  up,  and  pointing  to  Mr.  Dickinson 
addressed  the  Indians  in  an  audible  voice,  in  their  own  tongue ; 
then  holding  up  the  other,  he  pointed  to  me,  repeating  to  them 
what  he  had  before  said  —  this  done,  he  turned  to  us,  and  said  : 
"  You  stay  here  long  as  you  want,  nobody  hurt  you."  Confiding 
in  the  assurances  of  this  chief,  I  hung  up  my  valise,  in  which 
were  some  important  papers,  for  I  was  then  on  my  way  further 
east,  attending  to  my  official  duties  as  sheriff*  of  Sandusky  county, 
and  felt  perfectly  at  home. 

To  the  inhabitants  of  this  section  of  Ohio,  a  minute  description 
of  the  council  house  would  be  deemed  unnecessary.  Suffice  it 
to  say,  that  its  dimensions  were,  perhaps,  sixty  by  twenty-five 
feet ;  a  place  in  the  centre  for  the  fire,  and  corresponding  there- 


326  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

with,  an  aperture  was  left  in  the  roof  for  the  smoke  to  ascend. 
Contiguous  to  the  fire  place  were  two  upright  posts,  four  or  five 
feet  apart ;  between  these  posts,  a  board,  twelve  or  fifteen  inches 
broad,  was  firmly  fastened ;  and  over  this  board  the  skin  of  a 
deer  was  stretched  very  tight.  On  a  seat  near  this  board,  sat  a 
blind  Indian  with  a  gourd  in  his  hand,  in  which  were  beans  or 
corn  —  with  this  he  beat  time  for  the  dancers.  Such  was  the 
musician,  and  such  the  music. 

The  dancing  had  commenced  previous  to  our  arrival  ;  and  was 
continued  with  little  intermission  for  several  successive  days  and 
nights.  An  effort  by  me  to  describe  their  manner  of  dancing 
would  be  fruitless.  I  have  witnessed  dancing  assemblies  in  the 
populous  cities  of  the  East,  among  the  refined  classes  of  society  — 
but  having  seen  nothing  like  this,  I  must,  therefore,  pronounce 
it  sui  generis.  I  was  strongly  solicited  by  some  of  the  chiefs  to 
unite  with  them  in  the  dance  :  I,  however,  declined  the  intended 
honor  —  but  gave  to  one  of  them  my  cane,  as  a  proxy,  with  which 
he  seemed  much  delighted.  Several  of  their  white  neighbors, 
both  male  and  female,  entered  the  ring. 

There  was  on  this  occasion  a  splendid  display  of  ornament. 
Those  who  have  seen  the  members  of  a  certain  society,  in  their 
most  prosperous  days,  march  in  procession,  in  honor  of  their 
patron  saint,  decorated  with  the  badges  and  insignia  of  their  order, 
may  have  some  conception  of  the  dress  and  ornamental  decora- 
tions of  those  head-men,  while  engaged  in  the  dance.  I  will 
select  Unwn  e  Pluribus,  their  Doctor,  as  he  was  called,  who 
wore  very  long  hair,  and  from  the  nape  of  his  neck,  to  the  ter- 
mination of  his  cue,  there  was  a  continuous  line  of  pieces  of  silver — 
the  upper  one  being  larger  than  a  dollar,  and  the  lower  one  less 
than  a  half  dime. 

Some  of  the  more  inferior  Indians  were  "  stuck  o'er  with 
baubles,  and  hung  round  with  strings."  Many  of  them  wore 
small  bells  tied  round  their  ancles ;  and  those  who  could  not 
afford  bells,  had  deer  hoofs  in  place  thereof;  these  made  a  jing- 
ling sound  as  they  put  down  their  feet  in  the  dance.  The  squaws 
also  exhibited  themselves  to  the  best  advantage.  Several  of  them 
were  splendidly  attired  and  decorated.  Their  dresses  were 


THE  DOG  SACRIFICE  OF  THE  SENEGAS.  327 

chiefly  of  silk,  of  various  colors,  and  some  of  them  were  of  good 
old  fashioned  queen's  gray.  These  dresses  were  not  cut,  as  our 
fair  belles  would  say,  a  la  mode — but  they  were  cut  and  made  after 
their  own  fashion  :  that  is  ;  not  so  long  as  to  conceal  the  scarlet 
hose  covering  of  their  ancles,  their  small  feet,  or  their  moccasins, 
which  were  so  ingeniously  beaded,  and  manufactured  by  their 
own  olive  hands.  Nor  must  I  omit  saying,  that  the  sobriety  and 
correct  demeanor  of  the  Indians,  and  the  modest  deportment  of 
the  squaws,  merited  the  highest  commendation. 

At  the  commencement  of  each  dance,  or,  to  borrow  our  own 
phraseology,  each  set  dance,  a  chief  first  arose,  and  began  to  sing 
the  words,  "  Ya-wo-hah !"  with  a  slow,  sonorous,  and  strong 
syllabic  emphasis,  keeping  time  with  his  feet,  and  advancing  round 
the  house ;  directly,  another  arose,  and  then  in  regular  succession, 
one  after  the  other,  rising,  and  singing  the  same  word,  and  falling 
in  the  rear,  until  all  the  men  had  joined  in  the  dance;  next  the 
squaws  at  a  respectable  distance  in  the  rear,  in  the  same  manner, 
by  seniority,  arose,  and  united  in  the  dance  and  the  song.  Now 
the  step  was  quicker  and  the  pronunciation  more  rapid,  all  sing- 
ing and  all  dancing,  while  Jim,  the  blind  musician,  struck  harder 
and  faster  with  his  gourd,  on  the  undressed  deer-skin  ;  thus  they 
continued  the  same  dance  for  more  than  one  hour,  without  ces- 
sation ! 

The  Indian  boys,  who  did  not  participate  in  the  dance,  amused 
themselves  the  meanwhile  discharging  heavy  loaded  muskets 
through  the  aperture  in  the  roof  the  reverberations  of  which  were 
almost  deafening.  Taken  altogether,  to  the  eye  and  ear  of  the 
stranger,  it  seemed  like  frantic  festivity.  Tall  Chief,  who  was 
confined  to  his  bed  by  indisposition,  felt  it  so  much  his  duty  to 
join  in  the  dance  with  his  people,  that  he  actually  left  his  bed, 
notwithstanding  it  was  mid  winter,  came  to  the  council  house, 
and  took  part  in  the  dance  as  long  as  he  was  able  to  stand. 

About  the  "  noon  of  night,"  Hard  Hickory  invited  Mr.  D.  and 
myself  to  accept  a  bed  at  his  residence  ;  to  this  proposition  we 
readily  assented.  Here  we  were  not  only  hospitably  provided 
for,  but  entertained  in  a  style  which  I  little  anticipated.  Even 
among  many  of  our  white  inhabitants,  at  this  early  day,  a  curtained 


328  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

bed  was  a  luxury  not  often  enjoyed  —  such  was  the  bed  we  oc- 
cupied. 

Shortly  after  our  arrival  at  the  house  of  this  chief,  Mr.  D. 
retired ;  not  so  with  our  friendly  host  and  myself — while  sitting 
near  a  clean,  brick  hearth,  before  a  cheerful  fire,  Hard  Hickory 
unbosomed  himself  to  me  unreservedly.  Mr.  D.  was  asleep  and 
the  chief  and  I  were  the  only  persons  then  awake  in  the  house. 

Hard  Hickory  told  me,  among  other  things,  that  it  was  owing 
chiefly  to  him,  that  this  feast  was  now  celebrated ;  that  it  was  in 
part  to  appease  the  anger  of  the  Good  Spirit,  in  consequence  of  a 
dream  he  lately  had  ;  and  as  an  explanation  he  gave  me  the 
following  narration  : 

"  He  dreamed  he  was  fleeing  from  an  enemy,  it  was,  he  sup- 
posed, something  supernatural ;  perhaps,  an  evil  spirit ;  that, 
after  it  had  pursued  him  a  long  time,  and  for  a  great  distance, 
and  every  effort  to  escape  from  it  seemed  impossible  as  it  was 
just  at  his  heels,  and  he  almost  exhausted ;  at  this  perilous 
juncture,  he  saw  a  large  water,  towards  which  he  made  with  all 
his  remaining  strength,  and  at  the  very  instant  when  he  expected 
each  bound  to  be  his  last,  he  beheld,  to  his  joy,  a  canoe  near  the 
shore ;  this  appeared  as  his  last  hope ;  breathless  and  faint,  he 
threw  himself  into  it,  and,  of  its  own  accord,  quick  as  an  arrow 
from  the  bow,  it  shot  from  the  shore  leaving  his  pursuer  on  the 
beach !" 

"While  relating  this  circumstance  to  me,  which  he  did  with 
earnestness,  trepidation  and  alarm,  strongly  expressed  in  his 
countenance,  he  took  from  his  bosom  something  neatly  and  very 
carefully  enclosed  in  several  distinct  folds  of  buckskin.  This 
he  began  to  unroll,  laying  each  piece  by  itself,  and  on  opening 
the  last,  there  was  enclosed  therein,  a  canoe  in  miniature  !  On 
handing  it  to  me  to  look  at,  he  remarked,  that  no  other  person 
save  himself  and  me,  had  ever  seen  it,  and  that,  as  a  memento, 
he  would  wear  it,  as  "  loag  as  he  lived."  It  was  a  piece  of  light 
wood,  resembling  cork,  about  six  inches  long,  and,  as  intended, 
so  it  was,  a  perfect  model  of  a  canoe. 

This  chief,  being  now  in  a  communicative  mood,  I  took  the 
liberty  to  inquire  of  him  "  when  they  intended  to  burn  their 


THE  DOG  SACRIFICE  or  THE  SENEGAS.  329 

dogs  ?  "  for  I  began  to  fear  I  should  miss  the  express  object  which 
I  came  to  witness.  After  giving  me  to  understand  that  "  the  red 
men  did  not  care  about  the  pale  faces  being  present  at,  nor,  if 
they  chose,  joining  in  the  dance,  but  burning  their  dogs  was 
another  thing  —  this  was  offering  sacrifice  to,  and  worshiping 
the  Great  Spirit ;  and  while  engaged  in  their  devotions  they  ob- 
jected to  the  presence  and  interference  of  the  whites ;  yet,  as  I 
had  never  been  present,  and  coming  as  the  friend  of  Mr.  Dickin- 
son, who  was  a  good  man,  he  would  tell  me  they  would  burn 
their  dogs  soon  to-morrow  morning."  The  night  being  now  far 
advanced,  he  pointed  to  the  bed  and  told  me  to  sleep  there ;  but 
that  he  must  go  to  the  council  house,  to  the  dance,  for  his  people 
would  not  like  it,  if  he  would  stay  away,  and  wishing  me  good 
night,  he  withdrew. 

Anxiety  to  witness  the  burnt  offering  almost  deprived  me  of 
sleep.  Mr.  D.  and  I,  therefore,  rose  early  and  proceeded  directly 
to  the  council  house,  and  though  we  supposed  we  were  early,  the 
Indians  were  already  in  advance  of  us.  The  first  object  which 
arrested  our  attention,  was  a  pair  of  the  canine  species,  one  of 
each  gender  suspended  on  a  cross  !  one  on  either  side  thereof. 
These  animals  had  been  recently  strangled  —  not  a  bone  was  broken 
nor  could  a  distorted  hair  be  seen  ?  They  were  of  a  beautiful 
cream  color,  except  a  few  dark  spots  on  one,  naturally,  while  the 
same  spots  had  been  put  on  the  other,  artificially,  by  the  devotees. 
The  Indians  are  very  partial  in  the  selection  of  dogs  entirely 
white,  for  this  occasion ;  and  for  which  they  will  give  almost  any 
price. 

Now  for  part  of  the  decorations  to  which  I  have  already  alluded, 
and  a  description  of  one  will  suffice  for  both,  for  they  were  par 
similes.  A  scarlet  ribbon  was  tastefully  tied  just  above  the  nose ; 
and  near  the  eyes  another ;  next  round  the  neck  was  a  white 
ribbon,  to  which  was  attached  something  bulbous,  concealed  in 
another  white  ribbon ;  this  was  placed  directly  under  the  right 
ear,  and  I  suppose  it  was  intended  as  an  amulet  or  charm.  Then 
ribbons  were  bound  round  the  forelegs,  at  the  knees,  and  near 
the  feet  —  these  were  red  and  white  alternately.  Round  the 
body  was  a  profuse  decoration  —  then  the  hind  legs  were  de- 


330  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY.  . 

corated  as  the  fore  ones.  Thus  were  the  victims  prepared  and 
thus  ornamented  for  the  burnt  ottering. 

While  minutely  making  this  examination,  I  was  almost  un- 
conscious of  the  collection  of  a  large  number  of  the  Indians  who 
were  there  assembled  to  offer  their  sacrifices. 

Adjacent  to  the  cross,  was  a  large  fire  built  on  a  few  logs ;  and 
though  the  snow  was  several  inches  deep,  they  had  prepared  a 
sufficient  quantity  of  combustible  material,  removed  the  snow 
from  the  logs,  and  placed  thereon  their  fire.  I  have  often  re- 
gretted that  I  did  not  see  them  light  this  pile.  My  own  opinion 
is,  they  did  not  use  the  fire  from  their  council  house ;  because  I 
think  they  would  have  considered  that  as  common,  and  as  this 
was  intended  to  be  a  holy  service,  they,  no  doubt,  for  this  pur- 
pose struck  fire  from  a  flint,  this  being  deemed  sacred. 

It  was  a  clear,  beautiful  morning,  and  just  as  the  first  rays  of 
the  sun  were  seen  in  the  tops  of  the  towering  forest,  and  its  re- 
flections from  the  snowy  surface,  the  Indians  simultaneously 
formed  a  semicircle  enclosing  the  cross,  each  flank  resting  on  the 
aforesaid  pile  of  logs.  Good  Hunter  who  officiated  as  high  priest, 
now  appeared,  and  approached  the  cross ;  arrayed  in  his  pontifi- 
cal robes,  he  looked  quite  respectable.  The  Indians  being  all 
assembled  —  I  say  Indians  (for  there  was  not  a  squaw  present 
during  all  this  ceremony  —  I  saw  two  or  three  pass  outside  of  the 
semi-circle,  but  they  moved  as  if  desirous  of  being  unobserved), 
at  a  private  signal  given  by  Good  Hunter,  two  young  chiefs  sprang 
up  the  cross,  and  each  taking  off  one  of  the  victims,  brought 
it  down,  and  presented  it  on  his  arms  to  Good  Hunter,  who, 
receiving  it  with  great  reverence,  in  like  manner  advanced  to  the 
fire,  and  with  a  very  grave  and  solemn  air,  laid  it  thereon  —  and 
this  he  did  with  the  other  —  but  to  which,  whether  male  or  female, 
he  gave  the  preference,  I  did  not  learn.  This  done,  he  retired 
to  the  cross. 

In  a  devout  manner,  he  now  commenced  an  oration.  The  tone 
of  his  voice  was  audible  and  somewhat  chanting.  At  every  pause 
in  his  discourse,  he  took  from  a  white  cloth  he  held  in  his  left 
hand,  a  portion  of  dried,  odoriferous  herbs,  which  he  threw  on 
the  fire ;  this  was  intended  as  incense.  In  the  meanwhile  his 


THE  DOG  SACRIFICE  OF  THE  SENEGAS,  331 

auditory,  their  eyes  on  the  ground,  with  grave  aspect,  and  in 
solemn  silence,  stood  motionless,  listening  attentively,  to  every 
word  he  uttered.  Thus  he  proceeded  until  the  victims  were  en- 
tirely consumed,  and  the  incense  exhausted,  when  he  concluded 
his  service ;  their  oblation  now  made,  and  the  wrath  of  the  Great 
Spirit,  as  they  believed,  appeased,  they  again  assembled  in  the 
council  house,  for  the  purpose  of  performing  a  part  in  their 
festival,  different  from  any  I  yet  had  witnessed.  Each  Indian 
as  he  entered,  seated  himself  on  the  floor,  thus  forming  a  large 
circle;  when  one  of  the  old  chiefs  rose,  and  with  that  native 
dignity  which  some  Indians  possess  in  a  great  degree,  recounted 
his  exploits  as  a  warrior ;  told  in  how  many  fights  he  had  been 
the  victor ;  the  number  of  scalps  he  had  taken  from  his  enemies ; 
and  what,  at  the  head  of  his  braves,  he  yet  intended  to  do  at  the 
Rocky  mountains ;  accompanying  his  narration  with  energy, 
warmth,  and  strong  gesticulations ;  when  he  ended,  he  received 
the  unanimous  applause  of  the  assembled  tribe. 

This  meed  of  praise  was  awarded  to  the  chief  by  three  times 
three  articulations,  which  were  properly  neither  nasal,  oral,  nor 
gutural,  but  rather  abdominal.  Indeed  I  am  as  unable  to  de- 
scribe this  kind  of  utterance,  as  I  am,  the  step  in  the  dance.  I 
have  seen  some  whites  attempt  to  imitate  the  step,  and  heard 
them  affect  the  groan  or  grunt,  but  it  was  a  mere  aping  thereof. 
Thus  many  others  in  the  circle,  old  and  young,  rose  in  order,  and 
proforma,  delivered  themselves  of  a  speech.  Among  those  was 
Good  Hunter ;  but  he 

' '  Had  laid  his  robes  away, 
His  mitre  and  his  vest." 

His  remarks  were  not  filled  with  such  bombast  as  some  others ; 
but  brief,  modest,  and  appropriate ;  in  fine,  they  were  such  as 
became  a  priest  of  one  of  the  lost  ten  tribes  of  Israel ! 

After  all  had  spoken  who  wished  to  speak,  the  floor  was  cleared, 
and  the  dance  renewed,  in  which  Indian  and  squaw  united,  with 
their  wonted  hilarity  and  zeal. 

Just  as  this  dance  ended,  an  Indian  boy  ran  to  me,  and  with 
fear  strongly  depicted  in  his  countenance,  caught  me  by  the  arm, 
and  drew  me  to  the  door,  pointing  with  his  other  hand  towards 


332  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

something  he  wished  me  to  observe.  I  looked  in  that  direction, 
and  saw  the  appearance  of  an  Indian  running  at  full  speed  to  the 
council  house ;  in  an  instant  he  was  in  the  house,  and  literally 
in  the  fire,  which  he  took  in  his  hands,  and  threw  coals  of  fire 
and  hot  ashes  in  various  directions,  through  the  house,  and  ap- 
parently all  over  himself!  At  his  entrance,  the  young  Indians, 
much  alarmed,  had  all  fled  to  the  further  end  of  the  house,  where 
they  remained  crowded,  in  great  dread  of  this  personification  of 
the  evil  spirit!  After  diverting  himself  with  the  fire  a  few 
moments,  at  the  expense  of  the  young  ones,  to  their  no  small 
joy  he  disappeared.  This  was  an  Indian  disguised  with  an  hideous 
false  face,  having  horns  on  his  head,  and  his  hands  and  feet  pro- 
tected from  the  effects  of  the  fire.  And  though  not  a  professed 
fire  king,  he  certainly  performed  his  part  to  admiration. 

During  the  continuance  of  this  festival,  the  hospitality  of  the 
Senecas  was  unbounded.  In  the  council  house,  and  at  the  resi- 
dence of  Tall  Chief,  were  a  number  of  large  fat  bucks,  and  fat 
hogs  hanging  up,  and  neatly  dressed.  Bread  also,  of  both  corn 
and  wheat  in  great  abundance.  Large  kettles  of  soup  ready  pre- 
pared, in  which  maple  sugar,  profusely  added,  made  a  prominent 
ingredient,  thus  forming  a  very  agreeable  saccharine  coalescence, 
and  what  contributed  still  more  to  heighten  the  zest  —  it  was  all 
impune  (scot  free).  All  were  invited,  and  all  were  made  welcome ; 
indeed  a  refusal  to  partake  of  their  bounty,  was  deemed  disre- 
spectful, if  not  unfriendly. 

In  the  afternoon  I  left  them  enjoying  themselves  to  the  fullest 
extent :  and  so  far  as  I  could  perceive,  their  pleasure  was  with- 
out alloy.  They  were  eating  and  drinking  (on  this  occasion,  no 
ardent  spirits  were  permitted),  dancing  and  rejoicing  —  caring 
not,  and,  probably,  thinking  not  of  to-morrow. 


THE  SPANISH  MISSION  COLONY  ON  THE  RAPPA- 
HANNOCK  ;  THE  FIRST  EUROPEAN  SETTLEMENT 
IN  VIRGINIAS 

[Read  before  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  October  1,  1872.] 
BY  JOHN  GILMARY  SHEA. 

There  is  an  episode  in  Virginia  history,  that  will,  I  think,  be 
new  to  many  of  my  hearers  —  a  most  strange,  romantic  and 
tragic  prelude  to  its  annals,  as  we  generally  find  them  written : 
the  history  of  the  first  house  reared  by  white  men  on  the  soil  of 
the  Old  Dominion. 

This  was  the  attempt  of  Spain  to  plant  a  missionary  colony 
near  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake,  which  her  navigators  named 
St.  Mary's  bay,  and  visited  years  before  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  pro- 
jected his  settlement  at  Roanoke  island. 

When  or  from  whom  St.  Mary's  bay  got  its  name,  our  most 
zealous  antiquarians  have  failed  to  discover.  The  name  is  not 
on  the  curious  copper  globe  made  by  Ulpius  in  1540,  which  once 
belonged  to  Pope  Marcellus  II,  and  now  adorns  our  library,  but 
it  is  mentioned  by  Oviedo  even  earlier,  and  is  found  on  Cabot's 
map  of  1544. 

Spanish  vessels  came  and  went.  Cape  St.  Mary  and  Cape  St. 
John  lured  them  into  the  broad  expanse,  studded  with  so  many 
islands  charming  to  the  sight,  whether  crowned  with  groves  of 
stately  trees  or  verdant  with  wild  vines  and  bushes,  that  they 
called  it  the  archipelago.  While  from  the  mountains  seen  afar 
came  down  a  series  of  noble  rivers,  watering  a  land  of  forests  so 
dense  that  grass  was  a  rarity. 

Doubtless  to  their  eyes,  as  to  those  of  the  English  who  soon 
after  visited  the  bay,  it  seemed  "  a  country  that  might  have  the 
prerogative  over  the  most  pleasant  places  known.  Heaven  and 
earth  it  seemed  never  agreed  better  to  frame  a  place  for  man's 
habitation." 

*  Reprinted  from  the  original  manuscript. 


334  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

One  day  a  Spanish  vessel  standing  out  to  sea  through  the 
capes,  bore  on  its  deck  a  tall,  well  formed  brave,  the  brother 
of  a  native  chieftain,  whom  some  Dominican  fathers  had  per- 
suaded to  accompany  them  to  Mexico. 

The  viceroy  of  that  rich  province,  Don  Luis  de  Velasco,  just, 
upright  and  disinterested,  who  so  lived  that  men  could  boast, 
that  with  all  his  opportunities  for  acquiring  wealth,  he  died  as 
he  had  lived  poor  and  in  debt  —  took  kindly  notice  of  the  Vir- 
ginian. He  had  him  instructed  in  the  truths  of  Christianity,  and 
when  with  all  the  pomp  of  his  time  he  was  solemnly  baptized 
in  the  Cathedral  of  Mexico,  the  viceroy  became  his  sponsor  and 
the  chieftain  from  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake  was  thenceforth 
known  by  the  name  of  his  patron,  Don  Luis  de  Velasco. 

The  time  came  for  something  more  than  mere  flying  visits  to 
the  bay.  Don  Pedro  Melendez  had  scarcely  accomplished  his 
bloody  task  of  stamping  out  French  colonization  in  Florida,  be- 
fore he  began  his  preparations  for  occupying  St.  Mary's  bay. 
Through  it  he  hoped  to  reach  China.  This  in  our  present  state 
of  knowledge  seems  absurd  and  ridiculous,  and  we  always  laugh 
at  Captain  John  Smith's  voyage  up  the  Chickahominy  to  seek  a 
route  to  Cathay.  But  Hudson  was  seeking  it  in  our  harbor,  as 
Gomez  had  already  sought  it,  and  to  this  day  Lachine  in  Canada, 
which  is  simply  French  for  China,  records  the  attempt  of  the  ad- 
venturous La  Salle  to  reach  the  middle  kingdom. 

By  the  letters  of  the  brave  but  cruel  old  seaman  Melendez,  we 
can  see  him  in  his  moments  of  leisure  during  the  winter  of  16|65, 
poring  over  the  best  maps  of  his  time,  some  of  which,  like  the 
copper  globe  in  the  library  below,  show  the  Pacific  running  far 
into  our  northern  continent  so  as  nearly  to  reach  the  Atlantic 
coast  about  Carolina.  By  him  sits  the  calm,  stoical  Luis  de 
Velasco,  now  a  man  of  fifty,  and  also  a  missionary  who  has  just 
come  from  China  by  the  usual  overland  route  of  that  time  across 
Mexico,  for  Panama  with  its  deadly  fevers  seems  to  have  been 
avoided.  Father  Urdaneta  is  full  of  stories  of  the  Pacific  and 
points  out  where  the  charts  should  lay  down  the  straits  of  Anian 
that  separated  America  from  Asia.  Don  Luis  gave  his  descriptions 
of  his  native  land  which  Melendez  combined  with  the  data  on 
the  maps,  and  the  ideas  of  his  Chinese  missionary. 


THE  SPANISH  MISSION  COLONY  OF  THE  RAPPAHANNOCK.  335 

His  letters  from  St.  Augustine  and  Havana  at  this  time  show 
the  result  which  he  attained  on  these  investigations.  The  rivers 
flowing  into  St.  Mary's  hay  were  to  be  ascended  80  leagues,  then 
the  mountain  range  was  to  be  crossed.  There  two  arms  of  the 
sea  were  found,  one  by  which  canoes  go  to  Newfoundland,  bear- 
ing their  rich  cargoes  of  furs  to  the  French  traders,  the  other 
leading  to  China. 

With  our  knowledge  of  the  country  and  of  the  history  of 
northern  exploration,  we  can  readily  comprehend  what  Melendez 
so  evidently  misunderstood. 

The  Salt  river  or  narrow  part  of  the  bay  receiving  the  waters  of 
the  Susquehanna,  led  up  into  the  country  of  the  Five  Nations 
and  by  the  Oswego  to  the  lands  of  tribes  who  had  already  begun 
to  carry  down  flotilla  loads  of  furs  to  Brest,  a  French  trading 
post  of  the  time  on  the  Labrador  side  at  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  frequented  in  Carder's  time  and  later,  but  long 
since  forsaken  and  forgotten.  Of  this  fur  trade  Melendez,  a 
native  of  northern  Spain,  had  doubtless  heard  from  the  Basques 
who  visited  the  great  bank  of  Newfoundland.  That  even  then 
an  Indian  trail  well  known  in  the  land  led  from  Upper  Ca- 
nada to  the  Chesapeake  we  can  see  by  the  fact  that  only  forty 
years  later  than  the  period  we  treat  of,  the  adventurous  Cham- 
plain  after  founding  Quebec  pushed  boldly  on  to  the  shores  of 
Lake  Huron  — the  Freshwater  sea  —  and  thence  dispatched  one 
of  his  fearless  Frenchmen,  Stephen  Brule,  with  a  few  Hurons, 
to  the  Carantonanais,  a  tribe  on  the  Susquehanna,  who  were 
kindred  and  allies  of  the  Hurons.  And  Brule,  not  without 
danger  indeed,  succeeded  in  reaching  them,  and  returned  to  re- 
port to  Champlain.  As  intercourse  was  thus  kept  up  between 
Lake  Huron  and  the  lower  Susquehanna  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  fur  trade,  which  came  down  from  the  lakes  to  the  French, 
was  known  in  Virginia  in  the  days  of  Melendez. 

The  Potomac,  apparently  the  Espiritu  Santo  of  the  Spaniards, 
if  ascended  to  the  mountains  led  to  the  Monongahela  and  so  to 
the  Mississippi,  bringing  them  to  the  laud  of  gold  and  of  civilized 
men. 

Misled,  however,  by  his  idea  as  to  the  arms  of  the  sea,  Melen- 


336  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

dez  in  1566  dispatched  a  vessel,  bearing  thirty  soldiers  and  two 
Dominican  fathers,  to  begin  a  station  in  Axacan,  near  the 
Chesapeake,  escorted  and  guided  by  Don  Luis  de  Velasco ;  but 
these  missionaries,  corrupted  by  an  easy  life  in  Peru,  had  no 
taste  for  a  laborious  mission,  or  perhaps  learned  the  real  state  of 
facts.  At  all  events  the  whole  party  took  alarm  and  forced  the 
captain  to  sail  oft' for  Spain. 

Four  years  later  Melendez  himself  trod  the  soil  of  the  Spanish 
peninsula,  full  of  his  projects  and  bent  on  carrying  them  out. 
Jesuit  missions  had  now  sprung  up  in  Florida,  and  though  one 
of  the  fathers  had  already  dyed  the  earth  with  his  heart's  blood, 
others  pressed  on.  These  were  to  Melendez's  mind,  the  men  to 
plant  the  standard  of  Christianity  and  the  banner  of  Spain  on 
the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake.  So  the  adelantado  arranged  his 
plan  with  that  saintly  scion  of  unsaintly  race,  Francis  Borgia. 
Don  Luis  de  Velasco  was  still  in  Spain,  a  grave,  intelligent  man, 
thoroughly  conversant  with  Spanish  affairs,  to  all  appearance  a 
sincere  arid  correct  Christian  and  friend  of  the  Spaniards.  With 
every  mark  of  joy  he  offered  to  return  to  Axacan,  and  do  all  in 
his  power  to  further  the  labors  of  any  missionaries  sent  over  to 
instruct  his  brother's  tribe.  Ere  long  he  was  again  on  the 
Atlantic,  a  staunch  Spanish  ship  bearing  him  from  San  Lucar 
with  the  Jesuit  father  Quiros  and  some  associates.  In  Novem- 
ber, 1570,  this  vessel  anchored  before  the  Spanish  fort  Santa 
Elena,  on  what  still  bears  the  name  Saint  Helena  sound,  South 
Carolina. 

There  Father  Segura,  the  vice  provincial  or  superior  of  the 
Jesuits,  arranged  the  plan  of  the  projected  mission.  So  great  a 
field,  it  was  believed,  lay  open  to  the  labors  of  his  order,  that  he 
resolved  to  go  in  person,  with  Father  Quiros,  accompanied  by 
five  young  members  of  the  society,  and  four  Indian  boys  as 
catechists  and  aids  for  temporal  service.  With  the  influence  and 
support  of  Don  Luis,  they  would  require  no  Spanish  guards,  and 
as  soldiers  were  sometimes  a  detriment  to  a  mission,  it  was  de- 
termined by  the  missionaries  to  trust  themselves  entirely  alone 
in  the  hands  of  the  Indians. 

Don  Luis  made  every  promise  as  to  the  security  of  the  persons 


THE  SPANISH  MISSION  COLONY  OF  THE  RAPPAHANNOCK.  3o7 

of  the  missionaries  confided  to  his  honor.  "  They  shall  lack 
nothing,"  he  declared,  "  I  will  be  ever  at  hand  to  aid  them." 

On  the  fifth  of  August,  1570,  this  little  mission  colony  sailed 
from  Saint  Helena  sound,  and  must  have  crept  very  slowly  along 
the  coast  and  up  the  Chesapeake,  for  it  was  not  till  the  tenth  of 
September  that  they  reached  Axacan,  the  country  of  Don  Luis 
and  the  scene  of  their  intended  mission  and  settlement. 

Where  precisely  Axacan  was  no  map  or  document  has  yet  been 
found  to  show.  We  are  therefore  left  to  conjecture.  It  was 
evidently  either  on  the  Susquehanna  or  the  Potomac,  the  two 
great  rivers  at  the  head  of  the  bay  mentioned  in  Spanish  accounts 
arid  by  which  the  object  of  their  exploration,  as  conceived  by 
Melendez,  was  to  be  attained. 

That  it  could  not  have  been  on  the  Susquehanna  is  evident 
from  the  fact  that  that  river  was  held  by  tribes  of  Huron  race 
living  in  palisaded  towns,  while  the  tribe  of  Don  Luis  were  ac- 
cording to  all  accounts  manifestly  a  division  of  the  nomadic 
Algonquins. 

Axacan  was  then  in  all  probability  on  the  Potomac,  the 
Espiritu  Santo  of  the  Spanish  navigators.  The  vessel  that  bore 
the  missionaries  and  two  other  vessels,  subsequently  ascended 
this  river  for  a  considerable  distance  to  a  point  where  they  landed 
and  proceeded  over  land  six  miles  to  another  river  leading  to  the 
country  of  Don  Luis,  and  by  which  they  might  have  sailed  up 
directly  to  it,  but  had  apparently  passed  as  a  less  navigable 
stream.  On  the  Potomac  there  is  to  this  day  a  spot  called  Oc- 
coquan,  which  is  near  enough  to  the  Spanish  Axacan  to  raise  a 
suspicion  of  their  identity,  and  not  far  below,  the  Potomac  and 
Rappahannock  approach  so  closely  as  to  lead  us  to  suppose  that 
the  hamlets  of  Don  Luis  were  on  the  Rappahannock. 

The  land  which  met  the  eyes  of  the  Spanish  missionaries  was 
not  one  to  raise  fond  hopes  or  sustain  delusions.  Of  all  that  the 
descriptions  of  Don  Luis  had  prepared  them  to  find,  there  was 
absolutely  nothing.  Just  come  from  the  vicinity  of  Florida  with 
its  rich  luxuriant  vegetation,  with  fruits  of  spontaneous  growth, 
and  maize  abundant,  they  beheld  a  land  scourged  by  a  six  years' 
sterility,  with  the  starving  remnants  of  decimated  and  thrice 
decimated  tribes.  These  wretched  beings  looked  upon  Don  Luis 
23 


338  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

as  if  sent  back  by  heaven,  and  seeing  him  whom  they  had  so 
long  mourned  as  dead,  treated  with  honor,  they  received  the 
Spaniards  with  every  demonstration  of  good  will,  though  so  des- 
titute, that  they  could  offer  no  fruit  or  maize. 

With  the  winter  fast  approaching,  it  seemed  almost  madness 
for  Father  Segura  and  his  companions  to  attempt  to  establish 
themselves  in  this  unpromising  land,  but  the  previous  failure  of 
the  Dominican  fathers,  and  the  deep  interest  taken  by  Melendez 
in  the  success  of  the  attempt,  doubtless  decided  the  point  in  the 
mind  of  the  missionaries. 

The  pilot  of  the  vessel  which  brought  them  being  short  of  pro- 
visions gave  them  little  time  for  reflection.  He  reached  there  on 
the  10th  of  September,  and  hastily  landing  the  missionaries  and 
all  that  belonged  to  them,  he  was  ready  to  sail  on  the  following 
day.  Segura  had  barely  time  to  write  to  the  king  and  to  add  a 
few  lines  to  the  letters  which  Quiros  wrote  to  Melendez  urging 
speedy  relief. 

Among  the  interesting  documents  discovered  and  copied  by 
our  late  associate  Buckingham  Smith  during  his  life-long  investi- 
gations in  Spain  were  these  autograph  letters  written  from  Axacan 
to  Melendez  by  Fathers  Segura  and  Quiros,  and  sent  back  by  the 
vessel  which  had  brought  them  from  St.  Helena  sound ;  and  he 
traced  a  facsimile  of  the  signatures  of  these  daring  heralds  of  the 
cross,  the  first  to  offer  up  any  Christian  worship  on  the  soil  of 
Virginia. 

In  this  letter  Father  Quiros  writes :  "  It  is  certain  that  these 
Indians  of  Don  Luis,  have  shown  their  good  will  in  such  manner 
as  they  could.  Don  Luis  seemed  to  them  to  have  risen  from  the 
dead  and  come  to  them  from  heaven,  and  as  most  of  all  those 
who  have  remained  here  are  his  relatives,  they  have  been  con- 
soled much  in  his  company  and  have  taken  courage  and  hope 
that  God  will  favor  them.  They  say  that  they  wish  to  be  like 
Don  Luis  and  ask  us  to  remain  in  this  land  with  them.  The 
cacique,  Don  Luis's  brother,  had  a  child  three  years  old  very  sick, 
some  seven  or  eight  leagues  from  here,  and  as  it  seemed  to  him 
on  the  point  of  death,  he  prayed  us  to  go  and  baptize  it.  The 
vice  provincial  accordingly  decided  to  send  one  of  us  by  night 
to  baptize  it,  as  it  was  very  near  death. 


THE  SPANISH  MISSION  COLONY  OF  THE  RAPPAHANNOCK.  339 

"  In  view  then  of  the  good  will  manifested  by  these  people,  al- 
though on  the  other  hand  as  already  stated,  they  are  so  famine 
stricken  and  all  expected  to  die  of  hunger  and  cold  this  winter, 
as  many  have  done  in  previous  winters,  for  the  deep  snows  that 
fall  on  this  land  prevent  their  seeking  the  roots  on  which  they 
are  accustomed  to  live  —  in  view  however  of  the  great  hope  we 
entertain  of  the  conversion  of  this  people,  and  the  service  of  our 
Lord,  and  of  his  majesty  and  of  reaching  the  mountain  range  and 
China,  etc.,  it  seemed  proper  to  the  father  that  we  should  venture 
to  remain  here,  although  with  so  little  ship's  stores  and  provi- 
sions, because  we  ate  on  the  way  two  of  the  four  barrels  of  biscuit 
and  the  little  flour  they  gave  us  for  the  voyage." 

After  announcing  this  heroic  decision,  in  which  we  cannot  fail 
to  admire  their  zeal  and  courage,  if  we  doubt  their  prudence, 
they  asked  speedy  relief.  "  It  is  very  necessary  that  you  should 
endeavor  if  possible  to  supply  us  with  all  dispatch,  and  if  it  is 
impossible  to  do  so  in  winter,  at  least  it  is  necessary  that  in 
March  or  at  the  furthest  early  in  April,  a  good  supply  be  sent, 
so  as  to  furnish  all  these  people  with  seed  corn."  He  concludes, 
"From  the  great  want  of  provisions  felt  by  all  in  the  ship,  it  has 
been  necessary  that  arriving  here  as  we  did  yesterday,  they  go  off 
to-day  leaving  us  here  in  this  depopulated  land,  with  the  discom- 
forts already  described,  and  hence  there  has  been  no  opportunity 
for  further  information  or  greater  detail." 

It  was  arranged  by  them  that  about  the  time  the  ship  should 
return,  Indians  would  be  on  the  lookout  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river  on  which  Don  Luis's  tribe  lived,  the  Rappahanock  as  I  infer  ; 
where  they  would  build  signal  fires  to  attract  attention,  and 
deliver  to  a  boat  sent  from  the  ship  a  letter  from  the  missionaries. 

The  little  band  beheld  the  vessel  hoist  her  sail  and  glide 
down  the  Potomac.  They  doubtless  lingered,  watching  what 
seemed  the  last  tie  between  them  and  civilized  man,  then  guided 
by  Don  Luis,  they  started  on  the  six  miles'  portage  to  the  Rappa- 
hannock,  the  Indians  bearing  some  of  their  scanty,  but  precious 
supplies,  the  missionaries  themselves  carrying  their  chapel  ser- 
vice, books  and  other  necessaries.  On  reaching  the  river  they 
were  to  ascend  it  about  six  miles  in  the  wretched  canoes  of  the 


340  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

natives,  for  in  their  misery  they  had  scarcely  a  single  one  fit  for 
any  use. 

The  Indians  of  Virginia  did  not  dwell  in  palisaded  towns,  like 
those  on  the  Susquehanna,  and  their  kindred  the  Hurons  and 
the  Iroquois.  They  seem  to  have  lived  only  in  scattered  bands, 
each  forming  a  little  hamlet  of  from  five  to  twenty  cabins,  each 
lodge  in  the  midst  of  a  rude  garden,  for  they  cultivated  very 
little  ground,  depending  almost  entirely  on  the  spontaneous  pro- 
ductions of  their  forests  and  swamps. 

The  accounts  of  the  subsequent  proceedings  of  this  strange 
colony  are  derived  from  a  boy,  and  are  somewhat  obscure,  for 
unfortunately  we  have  not  the  formal  examination,  which  must 
have  been  forwarded  to  Spain. 

These  statements  seem  to  make  the  journey  to  the  hamlets  of 
Don  Luis's  tribe,  a  long  and  weary  one  through  wood  and  desert 
and  morass,  loaded  with  their  baggage,  living  on  roots,  and  not 
the  short  journey  that  Father  Quiros  anticipated. 

The  hamlet  first  reached  was  a  wretched  one  of  naked  and 
starving  savages.  Here  arnid  the  tent-like  lodges  of  the  Indians, 
made  of  poles  bound  together  at  the  top  and  covered  with  mats 
or  bark,  Segura  and  his  companions  erected  a  rude  house,  a  log 
cabin  doubtless,  the  first  white  habitation  in  that  part  of  Ame- 
rica. One  end  was  devoted  to  their  chapel,  the  other  was  their 
dwelling. 

Here,  doubtless  to  the  wonder  of  the  natives,  the  service  of  the 
Roman  church  was  solemnly  performed. 

Of  the  party  Segura  was  the  soul.  He  was  a  native  of  Toledo, 
who  had  become  a  Jesuit  in  1566,  and  led  by  his  zeal  to  seek  a 
foreign  mission,  he  had  renounced  the  comforts  of  Europe  and 
the  positions  of  dignity  offered  him  there,  to  come  in  1568  to 
Florida.  He  had  thus  acquired  two  years'  experience  of  the 
Indian  character  and  manners  and  doubtless  some  insight  into 
the  languages  spoken  at  Calos  and  Santa  Elena.  In  his  new 
mission  we  can  see  him  attempting,  under  the  guidance  of  Don 
Luis,  to  acquire  the  language  of  the  Algonquin  flock  among 
whom  he  was  now  to  labor. 

As  the  missionaries  had  foreseen  that  they  must  winter  there 
and  might  not  receive  supplies  before  March  or  April  Segura 


THE  SPANISH  MISSION  COLONY  OF  THE  RAPPAHANNOCK.  341 

doubtless  began  like  his  Indian  neighbors  to  lay  up  a  winter  store 
from  the  woods  and  meadows  around  the  clearing  where  his 
chapel  stood.  Acorns,  walnuts,  chestnuts  and  chinquapins  were 
regularly  gathered  by  the  natives  as  well  as  persimmons  and  a 
root  like  a  potato  growing  in  the  moist  lands. 

In  those  narrow  tongues  of  land  between  the  Virginian  rivers 
larger  game  must  have  been  very  scarce,  the  hunting  ground 
being  off  by  the  mountains.  But  the  mission  party  had  no  means 
of  hunting  and  though  the  rivers  teemed  with  fish,  we  find  no 
indication  of  their  being  supplied  with  any  means  of  deriving 
food  from  that  source. 

For  a  time  Don  Luis  remained  with  them,  but  as  so  generally 
happens  in  all  attempts  to  elevate  the  redmen,  old  habits  returned, 
he  became  Indian  with  the  Indians  rather  than  Spanish  with  the 
Spaniards.  Ere  long  he  abandoned  the  missionaries  entirely  and 
went  off  to  another  place,  distant  from  it  a  journey  of  a  day  and 
a  half. 

The  missionaries  were  not  yet  sufficiently  versed  in  the  language 
of  the  natives  to  dispense  with  his  aid  as  teacher  and  interpreter, 
and  his  influence  was  constantly  needed.  Hence  they  felt  his 
desertion  keenly.  Several  times  they  sent  one  of  the  young  men 
to  urge  his  return,  but  he  refused  and  the  winter  wore  away  with 
great  suffering  and  hardship,  not  unmingled  with  gloomy  fore- 
bodings. 

As  February  approached  and  there  seemed  only  a  short  inter- 
val left  before  the  return  of  the  vessel  from  Santa  Elena  which 
was  their  only  hope  of  escape  from  the  diificulties  which  sur- 
rounded them,  Segura  resolved  to  make  a  last  effort  to  move 
Don  Luis.  He  sent  Father  Quiros  with  two  brothers,  De  Solis 
and  Mendez,  to  the  hamlet  where  he  resided,  to  make  a  last  ap- 
peal. He  made  many  excuses  for  his  absence  and  continued  to 
beguile  them  by  promises  of  which  they  saw  too  clearly  the  in- 
sincerity. They  departed  heavy  hearted,  but  they  had  scarcely 
passed  beyond  the  last  cabin  of  the  hamlet  when  a  shower  of 
arrows  came  whirring  upon  them.  Quiros  and  his  companions 
fell  pierced  in  countless  places  by  the  flinty  arrow  heads.  Their 
quivering  bodies  were  at  once  stripped  and  subjected  to  all  the 
indignities  and  mutilations  that  savage  fancy  dictated. 


342  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Father  Segura  and  the  remainder  of  his  party  had  spent  the 
interval  in  prayer.  Anxiety  deepened  as  no  sign  of  Father 
Quiros  appeared.  On  the  fourth  day,  yells  and  cries  announced 
the  approach  of  a  large  party,  and  in  a  few  moments  Don  Luis 
appeared  arrayed  in  the  cassock  of  Father  Quiros,  attended  by 
his  brother  and  a  war  party  armed  with  clubs  and  bows,  and 
dressed  in  all  the  finery  of  war. 

The  closing  scene  had  come.  Don  Luis  sternly  demanded 
from  those  whom  he  had  promised  to  protect  and  aid,  all  that 
could  serve  for  a  defence,  their  knives,  the  axes  used  for  chopping 
wood.  But  Segura  and  his  companions  had  no  thought  of  resist- 
ance. They  surrendered  these  things  without  a  word  of  remon- 
strance. Then  they  knelt  down  before  their  rude  altar  to  await 
the  death  they  had  expected.  Don  Luis  gave  the  signal.  His 
braves  rushed  upon  the  mission  party  and  slaughtered  all  but 
one,  a  boy  named  Alphonsus  who  was  protected  by  a  brother  of 
Don  Luis  and  escaped. 

The  account  states  that  Don  Luis  buried  beneath  their  chapel 
house  the  bodies  of  his  victims,  Father  John  Baptist  Segura, 
Brothers  Gabriel  Gomez,  Peter  de  Linares,  Sancho  Levallos  and 
Christopher  Redondo,  with  their  Indian  attendants. 

The  authorities  at  the  Spanish  post,  Santa  Elena,  seem  to  have 
shown  great  indifference  as  to  the  fate  of  this  mission  band. 
Under  the  pretext  that  no  pilot  could  be  found  to  run  along  the 
coast  from  South  Carolina  to  the  Chesapeake,  they  let  the  whole 
autumn  and  winter  pass.  In  the  spring  Brother  Vincent  Gon- 
zales  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  vessel  and  sailed  with  some  Span- 
iards to  the  relief  of  his  associates.  They  ran  up  the  Potomac 
and  anchored  at  the  spot  where  Segura  had  landed.  At  a  dis- 
tance they  beheld  men  in  the  garb  of  the  missionaries,  but  the 
Indians  failed  to  lure  them  ashore  by  the  device.  Some  of  the 
natives  even  came  out  saying :  "  See  the  fathers  who  came  to 
us  :  we  have  treated  them  well.  Land  and  see  them  and  we  will 
treat  you  likewise."  On  the  contrary  suspecting  treachery  from 
the  fact  that  the  pretended  fathers  did  not  approach  as  the  real 
ones  would  have  done,  the  Spaniards  seized  two  of  the  Indians 
and  sailed  back. 


THE  SPANISH  MISSION  COLONY  OF  THE  RAPPAHANNOCK.  343 

Melendez  returning  from  Spain  heard  their  report  and  at  once 
sailed  to  the  Chesapeake,  to  chastise  the  murderers.  Taking  a 
stout  though  light  craft,  he  soon  ran  up  the  Potomac  to  the  spot 
already  twice  visited.  There  a  Spanish  force  fully  armed  and 
headed  by  this  determined  man,  landed.  Melendez  unfurled 
the  standard  of  Spain  on  Virginian  soil,  and  marching  inland 
soon  captured  several  Indians.  They  confessed  the  murder  of 
the  mission  party,  laying  all  the  blame  on  Don  Luis. 

Melendez  announced  that  he  would  not  harm  the  innocent, 
but  ordered  them  to  deliver  up  Don  Luis.  That  Indian  and  his 
brother,  the  chief  of  Axacan,  fled  to  the  mountains.  The  brother, 
who  had  saved  the  life  of  little  Alphonsus,  brought  him  to  Melen- 
dez, who  received  him  with  great  pleasure.  This  boy  gave  an 
account  of  all  that  happened  since  they  landed,  and  I  need  hardly 
say  that  it  is  the  basis  of  all  the  accounts  we  have.  He  pointed 
out  those  concerned  in  the  massacre  and  Melendez  hung  eight 
of  them  at  his  yard  arm. 

After  this  summary  piece  of  justice,  the  founder  of  Saint 
Augustine  with  his  mail-clad  force  embarked,  and  the  Spanish 
flag  floated  for  the  last  time  over  the  land  of  Axacan. 

So  ends  the  history  of  the  first  settlement  of  white  men  on  the 
soil  of  Virginia.  The  walls  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  might 
well  be  adorned  with  a  painting  of  a  scene  that  occurred  almost 
in  sight  of  its  dome  —  the  founder  of  Saint  Augustine,  the  butcher 
of  Ribault,  the  chosen  commander  of  the  Invincible  Armada,  as 
he  stood  surrounded  by  his  grim  warriors,  planting  the  standard 
of  Spain  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac. 

Raphe  Hamor,  author  of  one  of  the  earliest  Virginia  tracts, 
says  that  Powhatan's  tribe  were  driven  by  the  Spaniards  from 
the  West  Indies,  a  loose  expression,  that  will  mean  any  part  of 
Spanish  America.  Powhatan's  confederacy  were  Algonquins 
and  could  scarcely  have  come  from  the  south.  If  driven  from 
their  original  abode  by  the  Spaniards,  they  may  be  the  very  tribe 
to  which  Don  Luis  belonged  and  which  fled  from  the  Potomac 
and  Rappahannock  to  the  shores  of  the  York  and  James.  If  so 
Don  Luis  de  Velasco  honorably  received  at  Mexico  and  Madrid, 
was  a  kinsman  of  Pocahontas  treated  as  a  princess  in  England. 


ALASKAN  MUMMIES.* 
BY  W.  H.  DALL. 

For  nearly  a  hundred  years  it  has  been  known,  through  the 
quaint  accounts  of  the  early  voyagers,  that  certain  tribes  of 
southern  Alaska  preserved  the  bodies  of  their  dead.  Up  to  a 
very  recent  period,  however,  no  examples  of  this  practice  had 
reached  any  ethnological  museum,  or  fallen  under  the  observa- 
tion of  any  scientific  observer.  When  the  territory  was  pur- 
chased, had  it  continued  as  accessible  as  during  1868,  it  might 
have  reasonably  been  expected  to  attract  many  investigators  in 
natural  history  and  ethnology,  whose  chief  difficulty  would  have 
been  an  embarras  de  richesse.  But  private  interest  and  public  in- 
difference united  to  seal  it  up  from  inspection.  Naturalists 
generally  are  less  easily  muzzled  than  poorly  paid  political  ap- 
pointees, and  hence  the  obstacles  thrown  in  the  way  of  explora- 
tion have  been  so  great  that  we  can  hardly  wonder  that  so  few 
have  been  able  to  enter  this  rich  and  interesting  field. 

During  the  last  four  or  five  years,  the  investigations  of  M. 
Alphonse  Pinart,  and  of  the  writer,  have  spread  among  the  resi- 
dents of  the  territory  some  knowledge  of  the  value  attached  to 
the  ethnological  material  which  surrounds  them,  and  to  this  fact 
we  owe  the  collection  and  preservation  of  much  that  is  of  interest. 
Among  other  things  which  have  come  to  hand  in  this  manner 
are  the  only  specimens  of  Alaska  mummies  extant. 

The  practice  of  preserving  the  bodies  of  the  dead  was  in  vogue 
among  the  inhabitants  of  the  Aleutian  islands  and  the  Kadiak 
archipelago  at  the  time  of  their  discovery,  and  probably  had 
been  the  custom  among  them  for  centuries.  We  find  nothing 
of  it  on  the  mainland.  It  is  curious  to  trace  the  customs  of  the 
wild  tribes  in  this  respect  in  connection  with  their  external  sur- 
roundings. In  the  Chukchee  peninsula  on  the  Asiatic  side  of 
Behring  strait,  there  is  no  soil  in  many  places.  The  substratum 


Reprinted  from  The  American  Naturalist  (Salem,  Mass.),  for  August,  1875. 


ALASKAN  MUMMIES.  345 

of  granitoid  rock  is  broken  by  the  frost  into  hundreds  of  angular 
fragments,  which  are  covered  with  a  thin  coating  of  various 
mosses,  which  may  be  stripped  off  in  great  pieces  like  a  blanket. 
There  are  no  trees  and  but  little  driftwood.  Burial  is  impracti- 
cable, cremation  impossible,  and  the  natives  expose  their  dead 
on  some  hillside  to  the  tender  mercies  of  bears,  dogs  and  foxes. 

In  the  Yukon  valley  at  a  short  distance  below  the  surface  the 
soil  is  permanently  frozen,  and  excavation  without  iron  tools  ex- 
tremely difficult.  But  timber  abounds,  and  the  bodies  of  the 
dead,  doubled  up  to  economize  space,  are  placed  in  wooden 
coffins  which  are  secured  without  nails  andv  elevated  above  the 
surface  of  the  earth  on  four  posts.  To  scare  away  wild  beasts 
poles  are  frequently  erected  around  the  coffin,  bearing  long 
strips  of  fur  or  cloth  which  are  agitated  by  the  wind. 

The  poor  and  friendless  may  be  simply  covered  with  a  pile  of 
logs,  secured  by  heavy  stones ;  but  in  general  the  method  is  as 
above.  Various  modifications  are  found  in  various  localities  ;  the 
coffin  on  the  lower  Yukon  is  sometimes  filled  in  with  clay, 
packed  hard ;  and  the  Nowikakhat  Indians  sometimes  place  their 
dead  erect,  surrounded  by  hewn  timbers  secured  like  the  staves 
of  a  cask. 

On  the  islands  the  soil  is  unfrozen  and  there  are  no  obstacles 
to  digging.  But  wood  is  only  found  on  the  shores,  drifted  by 
the  ocean  currents,  and  usually  not  in  large  quantities.  How- 
ever there  are  no  wild  animals  to  disturb  the  remains ;  the 
beetling  cliffs  which  are  found  on  every  hand,  shattered  by  fre- 
quent earthquakes,  afford  in  the  talus  of  broken  rock  at  their 
bases,  abundant  and  convenient  rock-shelters.  Here  the  natural 
depositories  exist,  of  which  the  natives  have  availed  themselves. 
On  all  these  customs,  originally  prompted  by  the  bare  necessities 
of  the  case,  the  slow  development  of  sentiment  and  feeling  (which 
undoubtedly  does  take  place  in  savage  people,  though  we  may 
not  be  able  to  trace  its  growth)  has  grafted  animistic  ideas,  and 
semi-religious  rites  and  ceremonies.  Thus,  the  original  utilitar- 
ianism is  more  or  less  completely  masked  or  concealed.  It  is 
a  singular  fact  that  no  people  have  ever  adopted  the  plan  of  com- 
mitting their  dead  to  the  sea. 


346  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Without  attempting,  at  present,  to  trace  the  growth  of  the 
custom,  I  will  briefly  describe  the  method  adopted  by  the  Kaniag 
and  Aleut  branches  of  the  Eskimo  stock,  in  preserving  the  dead. 
The  details  are  partly  given  in  the  older  voyages  ;  and  have  been 
confirmed  and  supplemented  by  an  examination  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  mummies,  and  the  traditions  of  the  present  natives. 

The  body  was  prepared  by  making  an  opening  in  the  pelvic 
region  and  removing  all  the  internal  organs.  The  cavity  was 
then  filled  with  dry  grass  and  the  body  placed  in  running  water. 
This  in  a  short  time  removed  most  of  the  fatty  portions,  leaving 
only  the  skin  and  muscular  tissues.  The  knees  were  then  brought 
up  to  the  chin,  and  the  whole  body  secured  as  compactly  as  pos- 
sible by  cords.  The  bones  of  the  arms  were  sometimes  broken 
to  facilitate  the  process  of  compression.  In  this  posture  the 
remains  were  dried.  This  required  a  good  deal  of  attention, 
the  exuding  moisture  being  carefully  wiped  off  from  time  to 
time.  When  thoroughly  dried  the  cords  were  removed  and  the 
body  usually  wrapped  in  a  shirt,  made  of  the  skins  of  aquatic 
birds  with  the  feathers  on,  and  variously  trimmed  and  ornament- 
ed with  exceedingly  fine  embroidery.  Over  this  were  wrapped 
pieces  of  matting  made  of  JElymus  fibre,  carefully  prepared.  This 
matting  varies  from  quite  coarse  to  exceedingly  fine,  the  best 
rivalling  the  most  delicate  work  of  the  natives  of  Fayal.  It  is, 
indeed,  quite  impossible  to  conceive  of  finer  work  done  in  the 
material  used. 

The  matting  was  frequently  ornamented  with  checks  and 
stripes  of  colored  fibre,  with  small  designs  at  the  intersections 
of  the  stripes,  and  with  the  rosy  breast-feathers  of  the  Leucosticte 
sewed  into  it.  Over  this  sometimes  a  water  proof  material,  made 
from  the  split  intestines  of  the  sea  lion  sewed  together,  was  placed. 
The  inner  wrappings  vary  in  number  and  kind  but  they  are  all 
referrible  to  one  or  the  other  of  the  above  kinds.  Outside  of 
these  were  usually  the  skins  of  the  sea  otter  or  other  fur  animals, 
and  the  whole  was  secured  in  a  case  of  sealskins,  coarse  matting 
or  similar  material  secured  firmly  by  cords  and  so  arranged  as 
to  be  capable  of  suspension. 

The  case  was  sometimes  cradle  shaped,  especially  when  the 


ALASKAN  MUMMIES.  347 

body  was  that  of  an  infant.  On  these  occasions  it  was  often  of 
wood,  ornamented  as  highly  as  their  resources  would  allow, 
painted  with  red,  blue  or  green  native  pigments,  carved,  adorned 
with  pendants  of  carved  wood  and  suspended  by  braided  cords  of 
whale  sinew  from  two  wooden  hoops,  like  the  arches  used  in  the 
game  of  croquet. 

The  innermost  wrapping  of  infants  was  usually  of  the  finest 
fur,  and  from  the  invariable  condition  of  the  contained  remains 
it  is  probable  that  the  bodies  were  encased  without  undergoing 
the  process  previously  described.  The  practice  of  suspension 
was  undoubtedly  due  to  a  desire  to  avoid  the  dampness  induced 
by  contact  with  the  soil.  The  bodies  of  infants  thus  prepared 
were  often  retained  in  the  house,  by  the  fond  mother,  for  a  long 
time.  Atterwards  they  were  sometimes  suspended  in  the  open 
air :  but  adults  were,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  find  out,  in- 
variably consigned  to  caves  or  rock-shelters. 

Among  the  localities  which  have  been  visited  personally  by 
the  writer,  are  caves  in  Unga,  one  of  the  Shumagin  islands,  and 
others  on  the  islands  of  Amaknak  and  Atka,  further  west.  In 
all  of  these  the  remains  of  mummies  existed ;  but  the  effect  of 
falling  rock  from  above,  and  great  age,  had  in  all  the  caves,  except 
that  of  Unga,  destroyed  the  more  perishable  portions  of  the  re- 
mains, and  in  the  latter  place  only  fragments  remained. 

Many  stories,  however,  came  to  hand  in  relation  to  a  cave  on 
the  "  islands  of  the  Four  mountains  "  west  of  Unalashka,  where 
a  large  number  of  perfectly  preserved  specimens  were  said  to  ex- 
ist, in  relation  to  which  the  following  legend  was  current  among 
the  natives. 

Many  years  ago1  there  lived  on  the  island  of  Kagamil  (one  of 
the  Four  mountains)  a  celebrated  chief  named  Kat-hay-a-kut-chak, 
small  of  stature  but  much  feared  and  respected  by  the  adjacent 
natives  for  his  courage  and  success  in  hunting.  He  had  a  son 
whom  he  fondly  loved,  and  who  was  about  fifteen  years  old. 
For  this  son  he  made  a  bidarka  (or  skin-boat)  highly  ornamented 
and  of  small  size.  "When  it  was  finished,  the  boy  entreated  his 

1  The  date  is  fixed  as  being  the  fall  before  the  spring  in  which  the  first  Russians  made  their 
appearance  at  these  islands,  about  1760. 


348  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

father  for  permission  to  try  it,  and  after  much  coaxing  was  per- 
mitted to  do  so,  on  condition  that  he  did  not  go  far  from  the 
shore.  After  seeing  the  boat  safely  launched  the  father  sat  on 
the  hillside  watching  its  progress.  The  boy  became  interested 
in  the  pursuit  of  a  diving  bird  at  which  he  threw  his  dart  and 
which  receding  from  the  shore  carried  the  boy  away  in  pursuit, 
forgetful  of  his  promise.  His  father  shouted  to  him  but  the  boy 
was  too  far  away  to  hear,  and  presently  it  becoming  dusk,  he 
could  no  longer  see  him  and  the  chief  returned  to  his  dwelling. 
The  boy  did  not  become  conscious  of  the  distance  he  had  paddled 
until  out  of  sight  of  his  own  island,  and  in  the  darkness  he  made 
for  the  nearest  shore. 

In  those  days  an  Aleut  marrying  into  another  family  was  ac- 
customed to  leave  his  wife  with  her  people,  at  least  for  a  certain 
time ;  and  a  native  of  another  island  who  had  married  a  daughter 
of  the  chief  was  on  his  way  to  visit  his  wife  when  he  saw  a  little 
canoe  in  front  of  him  and  recognized  his  little  brother-in-law. 
The  boy  did  not,  however,  recognize  the  native,  and  supposing 
himself  pursued  paddled  away  as  fast  as  he  could.  The  brother- 
in-law  tried  to  frighten  him  by  throwing  darts  at  his  canoe,  and 
threw  one  so  carelessly  that  it  hit  the  boy's  paddle  and  his  canoe 
overturned.  The  brother-in-law  made  all  speed  to  catch  up  with 
him  and  attempted  to  right  the  boat ;  but  he  could  not  do  it,  the 
boy,  as  is  the  custom,  being  tied  into  the  aperture  in  the  top ; 
until,  when  he  did  succeed,  he  found  that  the  boy  was  dead.  His 
grief  may  be  imagined,  and  at  first  he  thought  of  abandoning  the 
canoe  where  it  was,  but  on  reflection  he  took  it  to  the  landing  at 
Kagamil  and  securing  it  in  the  kelp,  that  it  might  not  float  away, 
he  returned  to  his  own  island  without  having  seen  his  wife.  In 
the  morning  the  chief's  servants  brought  it  in,  and  to  his  great 
sorrow  Kat-hay-a-kut-chak  recognized  his  beloved  son. 

He  caused  the  body  to  be  prepared  for  burial,  and  when  the 
preparation  was  complete  he  sent  for  all  the  people  of  the  Four 
Mountain  islands  to  unite  in  the  ceremonies  of  depositing  the 
body  in  the  place  where  the  Aleuts  were  used  to  put  their  dead. 
The  people  collected,  and  together  with  the  chief  and  his  family 
formed  in  procession,  with  songs  of  lamentation,  beating  the 
native  tambourines  on  the  way  to  the  burying  place.  It  was 


ALASKAN  MUMMIES.  349 

autumn  and  some  snow  was  on  the  ground  which  the  warm  sun 
had  partially  melted.  On  the  road  lay  a  large  flat  stone.  The 
sister  of  the  boy,  who  was  great  with  child,  having  her  eyes  cov- 
ered, did  not  see  the  stone,  slipped,  and  fell,  injuring  herself  se- 
verely, and  bringing  on  premature  delivery,  which  caused  her 
death  with  that  of  the  infant,  on  the  spot.  Now  the  poor  old 
chief  had  three  to  bury  instead  of  one.  So  he  ordered  the  pro- 
cession to  return  to  the  village,  bearing  the  dead  with  them. 

He  then  had  a  cave  near  his  house,  which  had  been  used  as  a 
place  for  storage,  cleaned  out,  and  after  due  preparation,  the 
bodies  were  deposited  in  this  cave,  and  with  them  many  sea-otter 
skins,  implements,  weapons,  and  all  the  personal  effects  of  the 
dead.  He  then  distributed  presents  and  food  to  the  people,  saying 
that  he  intended  to  make  of  this  cave,  a  mausoleum  for  his  family; 
and  when  he  himself  should  die  it  was  his  desire  to  be  placed 
there,  with  his  children.  He  then  told  them  to  eat  and  drink  as 
much  as  they  desired,  but  as  for  himself  he  should  fast  and  weep 
for  his  children.  His  wishes  were  carried  out,  and  he  was  placed 
in  the  cave  after  his  death,  and  since  that  time  the  Four  Mountain 
islands  have  been  abandoned  as  a  place  of  residence  by  the  natives 
and  only  occupied  by  casual  parties  of  hunters. 

The  writer  attempted  in  1873  to  reach  this  locality,  but  bad 
weather  prevented  anchoring  ;  as  the  shores  are  mostly  precipi- 
tous, and  there  are  no  harbors.  In  the  summer  of  1874,  however, 
the  captain  of  a  trading  vessel  sent  there  to  take  off  a  party  of 
hunters,  was  guided  by  some  of  them  to  the  cave,  and  succeeded 
in  removing  all  the  perfect  mummies  and  such  implements  and 
other  ethnological  material  as  could  be  found.  Through  the  lib- 
erality of  the  Alaska  Com.  Co.,  these  remains  have  been  received 
by  the  National  Museum  and  a  careful  and  detailed  account  of 
them  has  been  prepared. 

Most  of  the  mummies  were  wrapped  up  in  skins  or  matting  as 
previously  described,  but  a  few  were  encased  in  frames  covered 
with  sealskin  or  fine  matting,  and  still  retaining  the  sinew  grum- 
mets by  which  they  were  suspended.  These  cases  were  five-sided, 
the  two  lateral  ends  subtriangular  ;  the  back,  bottom  and  sloping 
top,  rectangular,  like  a  buggy  top  turned  upside  down.  With 
them  were  found  some  wooden  dishes,  a  few  small  ivory  carvings 


350  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

and  toys,  a  number  of  other  implements,  but  no  weapons  except 
a  few  lance  or  dart  heads  of  stone.  Two  or  three  women's  work 
bags  with  their  accumulated  scraps  of  embroidery,  sinew,  tools 
and  raw  materials  were  among  the  collection. 

While  space  will  not  suffice  here  to  describe  this  material  in 
detail,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  it  contained  thirteen  complete 
mummies,  from  infants  to  adults,  two  of  which  were  retained  in 
California;  and  two  detached  skulls.  None  of  the  material 
showed  any  signs  of  civilized  influences,  all  was  of  indigenous 
production,  either  native  to  the  islands,  or  derived  from  inter- 
native  traffic  or  drift  wood.  The  latter  comprised  a  few  pieces 
of  pine  resin  and  bark,  birch  bark,  and  fragments  of  reindeer 
skin  from  Alaska  peninsula. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  this  is  one  of  the  most  important  ad- 
ditions to  our  knowledge  of  the  prehistoric  condition  of  these 
people.  So  far  as  the  specimens  differed  from  those  in  use  in 
more  modern  times  they  resembled  more  nearly  the  implements 
in  use  among  the  Eskimo  of  the  mainland.  The  remains  are  all 
those  of  true  aboriginal  Aleuts. 

The  Kaniagmut  Eskimo,  inhabiting  the  peninsula  of  Alaska, 
the  Kadiak  archipelago  and  the  islands  south  of  the  peninsula, 
added,  to  the  practice  of  mummifying  the  dead,  the  custom  of 
preparing  the  remains  in  some  cases  in  natural  attitudes,  dressing 
them  in  elaborately  ornamented  clothing  sometimes  with  wooden 
armor,  and  carved  masks.  They  were  represented,  women  as 
serving  or  nursing  children ;  hunters  in  the  chase,  seated  in  canoes 
and  transfixing  wooden  effigies  of  the  animals  they  were  wont  to 
pursue ;  old  men  beat  the  tambourine,  their  recognized  employ- 
ment at  all  the  native  festivals.  During  the  mystic  dances,  for- 
merly practiced  before  a  stuffed  image,  the  dancers  wore  a  wooden 
mask  which  had  no  eye-holes,  but  was  so  arranged  that  they  could 
only  see  the  ground  at  their  feet.  At  a  certain  moment  they 
thought  that  a  spirit,  whom  it  was  death  or  disaster  to  look  upon, 
descended  into  the  idol.  Hence  the  protection  of  the  mask.  A 
similar  idea  led  them  to  protect  the  dead  man,  gone  to  the  haunts 
of  spirits,  from  the  sight  of  the  supernatural  visitor.  After  their 
dances  were  over  the  temporary  idol  was  destroyed.  We  found 
many  relics  of  this  practice  in  the  Unga  caves. 


ALASKAN  MUMMIES.  351 

In  Kadiak  still  another  custom  was  in  vogue.  Those  natives 
who  hunted  the  whale  formed  a  peculiar  caste  by  themselves. 
Although  highly  respected  for  their  prowess  and  the  important 
contributions  they  made  to  the  food  of  the  community,  they  were 
considered  during  the  hunting  season  as  unclean.  The  profession 
descended  in  families  and  the  bodies  of  successful  hunters  were 
preserved  with  religious  care  by  their  successors.  These  mum- 
mies were  hidden  away  in  caves  only  known  to  the  possessors. 
A  certain  luck  was  supposed  to  attend  the  possession  of  bodies 
of  successful  hunters.  Hence  one  whaler,  if  he  could,  would  steal 
the  mummies  belonging  to  another,  and  secrete  them  in  his  own 
cave,  in  order  to  obtain  success  in  his  profession. 

While  M.  Pinart  was  in  Kadiak,  he  heard  of  the  existence  of 
one  of  these  mummies  but  was  unable  to  discover  the  locality. 
Afterwards  Mr.  Sheeran,  the  U.  S.  deputy  collector  of  the  port 
of  Kadiak,  through  a  peculiar  superstition  of  the  Christianized  (?) 
natives,  was  able  to  discover  and  secure  it.  It  appears  that 
though  nominally  all  members  of  the  Greek  church  they  still  have 
great  faith  in  the  superstitions  of  their  ancestors,  and  while  the 
whaleman's  supersition  has  passed  away,  the  natives  still  re- 
garded the  mummy  as  possessing  the  power  of  averting  the  ill 
nature  of  evil  spirits,  and  consequently  were  accustomed  to  take 
to  it  the  first  berries  and  oil  of  the  season.  This,  they  asserted, 
the  mummy  ate,  as  the  dishes  were  always  empty  when  they  re- 
turned for  them.  Thus  annually,  they  furnished  the  foxes  and 
spermophiles  with  a  feast.  By  watching,  when  the  spring  offer- 
ing was  made,  the  locality  was  detected.  The  mummy  was 
secured  by  Mr.  Sheeran  and  placed  in  an  outbuilding  near  his 
house.  During  the  season  the  natives  came  to  him  and  remon- 
strated at  his  not  feeding  the  dead  man  sufficiently ;  for  he  had 
been  seen  by  a  native  watchman  one  foggy  night,  prowling  about 
the  town,  presumably  in  search  of  food. 

This  mummy  was  only  covered  with  a  tattered  gut-shirt  or 
kamlayka,  was  in  a  squatting  posture,  and  held  in  his  hand  a 
stoneheaded  lance,  on  the  point  of  which  was  transfixed  a  rude 
figure  cut  out  of  sealskin,  supposed  by  the  natives  to  represent 
the  evil  spirits  which  he  held  in  check.  It  was  that  of  a  middle 
aged  man  with  hair  and  tissues  in  good  preservation. 


D  YEING,  SPINNING  AND  WEA  VING,  B  Y  THE  CAM- 
ANCHES,  NAVAJOES,  AND  OTHER  INDIANS  OF 
NEW  MEXICO. \ 

BY  J.  HENRY  PETERS. 

THOMAS  EWBANK,  Esq., 

Dear  Sir :  Fully  appreciating  the  heartiness  and  zeal,  with 
which  you  direct  your  researches  into  the  various  branches  of 
inquiry  and  learning  connected  with  your  important  bureau,  I 
with  great  pleasure,  but  with  diffidence,  accede  to  your  request, 
and  give  you  such  information  with  regard  to  the  manufactures 
of  wool  and  cotton,  as  I  have  acquired  in  my  rambles  among  our 
western  Indians ;  and  more  especially,  among  the  Camanches, 
Navajoes,  and  Apaches  of  western  Texas  and  southern  New 
Mexico.  I  have  not  been  further  west  than  Paso  del  Norte,  in 
Texas,  nor  further  north  than  Sonora,  in  New  Mexico,  and  the 
surrounding  county. 

It  is  known  to  every  observing  traveler  in  those  parts  of  our 
country  —  now  no  longer  remote  —  that  the  brilliancy  arid  dura- 
bility of  the  various  shades  of  primitive  colors,  and  the  few  semi- 
colors  that  those  Indians  dye  their  wool  in,  are  probably  not 
equalled  by  the  learned  and  scientific  chemists  of  Europe,  and 
our  own  country  —  an  important  fact,  that  seems  not  to  have 
excited  the  curiosity  of  our  otherwise  enquiring  countrymen. 
Should  I  be  able,  through  your  instrumentality,  to  bring  to  the 
public  notice,  such  facts  as  will  lead  to  enquiry  and  investigation, 
I  should  consider  myself  as  having  contributed  somewhat  to  our 
national  advancement  in  one  branch  of  the  arts  at  least,  and  that 
one  of  the  most  important. 

The  Camanche,  Navajoe,  and  Apache  Indians,  present  the 
curious  spectacle  of  marauding  bands  of  well  mounted  men; 
seemingly  always  committing  predatory  incursions  upon  their 
civilized  neighbors,  the  Texans  and  Mexicans,  apparently  con- 


1  Reprinted  from  the  Report  of  the  U.  8.  Commission  of  Patents,  for  1850,  part  1. 


DYEING,  SPINNING  AND  WEAVING  BY  THE  CAMANCHES.  353 

stantly  on  the  alert  for  evil,  and  yet,  possessing  great  skill  in  the 
more  peaceful  and  benevolent  habits  of  the  herdsman  and  shep- 
herd. 

The  depredations  of  the  immense  number  of  sheep,  almost 
daily  chronicled  in  our  gazettes,  are  not  made  to  appease  hunger 
only ;  but  to  add  to  the  already  immense  flocks  that  overspread, 
as  I  have  been  told  by  them,  the  region  of  country  lying  west  of 
the  Sierra  Madre,  and  east  of  California. 

In  the  spring  and  summer  of  1843,  in  company  with  an  old 
friend  —  one  of  the  Creeks  who  had  emigrated  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, soon  after  the  treaty  with  them  in  1832  —  I  traveled 
westward.  My  guide  and  companion  had  acquired  a  good 
knowledge  of  the  language  and  habits  of  the  Camanches,  Navajoes 
and  Apaches,  and  had  probably  not  altogether  abstained  from 
joining  them  occasionally  in  their  irruptions  upon  the  settlements 
of  their  timid  neighbors  of  Chihuahua  and  Sonoro.  I  found  him 
"  as  one  having  authority,"  and  of  course,  very  useful,  both  in  the 
protection  he  afforded  me,  and  the  information  he  enabled  me 
to  acquire. 

Among  the  first  objects  of  interest  to  me,  next  to  the  match- 
less feats  of  horsemanship  they  perform,  and  which  have  so  often 
been  written  of — was  the  number  and  variety  of  articles  wrought 
by  them,  both  useful  arid  ornamental,  and  which  might  well  vie 
with  the  skill  of  more  civilized  artizans.  Among  these  were 
the  beautiful  fabrics  composed  of  wool,  and  a  kind  of  grass  cloth, 
and  some  few  of  cotton.  The  object,  however,  of  greatest  interest 
to  me,  was  the  art  of  imparting  to  wool,  etc.,  the  beautiful  colors  I 
had  often  before  admired,  and  to  this  I  gave  most  attention. 
Like  other  Indians,  I  found  them  unwilling  to  impart  knowledge 
voluntarily,  and  I  had  in  my  previous  and  long  intercourse  with 
the  western  tribes,  early  learned  not  to  make  inquiries  that  might 
excite  their  special  attention  to  my  designs.  Our  Indians  are 
not  disposed  to  impart  to  their  white  brethren,  unless  their 
citizens,  any  thing  that  might  be  useful  out  of  their  own  country, 
in  which  particular,  they  are  not  unlike  the  Chinese,  so  that  with 
the  exceptions  of  their  modes  of  dyeing  and  spinning,  I  will  not 
now  attempt  to  give  you  any  certain  account.  The  information 
24 


354  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

I  derived,  and  minutes  made  at  the  time,  will  now  only  enable 
me  to  give  you  the  modus  operandi  of  extracting  their  dyes, 
without  being  able  to  give  you  the  names  of  the  ingredients. 
The  specimens  I  had  been  enabled  to  collect  have  become  dried 
up,  and  many  have  been  lost  by  crumbling,  and  I  was  not  enabled 
to  procure  seeds  or  other  means  of  reproducing  the  plant,  and 
am  not  sufficiently  a  botanist  to  give  you  a  technical  description 
of  them.  I  can  give  you  the  facts  only,  but  these  are  of  sufficient 
importance  to  awaken  curiosity,  and  lead  to  the  investigations 
of  secrets  by  those  more  intimately  connected  with  the  subject 
treated  of,  and  I  think  of  sufficient  importance  to  have  that 
enquiry  efficiently  made  under  governmental  auspices. 

The  colors  most  admired  by  the  Camanches  and  Navajoes  are 
crimson,  blue,  purple  and  green ;  consequently  these  colors  are 
the  most  common  among  them  in  all  their  shades ;  and  though 
in  their  weavings  they  blend  these  with  brown,  yellow  and  other 
colors,  with  singular  judgment  and  taste,  yet  it  is  the  brilliancy 
of  those  that  you  most  admire. 

All  their  primitive  colors  are  the  products  of  the  prairie  and 
mountain  flowers,  and  their  semi-colors  are  composed  of  these 
and  the  inner  bark  and  roots  of  but  few  other  plants  combined 
in  such  proportions  as  the  hue  intended  to  be  produced.  They 
have  no  mineral  dyes  that  I  am  aware  of.  Many  of  these  flowers 
are  small,  indeed  most  of  them ;  and  the  plants  of  low  size,  and 
begin  to  bloom  in  February,  March  and  April,  and  continue  till 
summer.  During  the  blooming,  the  flowers  are  gathered  early 
in  the  morning,  with  the  dew  upon  them,  and  dried  of  the  dew 
under  a  shade.  The  leaves  are  carefully  picked  off,  the  stems 
and  such  as  have  their  petals  covered  with  pollen  of  another 
color  — e.  g. —  such  as  are  purple  or  scarlet  with  petals  of  yellow 
or  white  pollen,  are  carefully  separated  from  it.  Particular 
flowers  only  are  selected ;  all  flowers  of  purple  color  are  not  used 
to  dye  purple,  and  so  of  every  other  color,  but  such  only  as  are 
known  to  make  an  indelible  dye. 

When  the  desired  quantity  of  leaves  are  collected  they  are 
carefully  and  cleanly  bruised  and  into  them  a  small  quantity  of 
ley  (I  shall  hereafter  describe  it)  is  put,  but  only  enough  to  make 


DYEING,  SPINNING  AND  WEAVING  BY  THE  CAMANCHES.  355 

a  thick  paste  —  which  has  the  property  of  loosening  the  dye  from 
the  fabrics,  and  facilitating  its  extraction.  A  small  bag  shaped 
like  a  money  purse,  and  but  little  larger,  made  of  new  dog  skin, 
deer  or  wolf  skin,  tanned  by  the  Indians  in  a  manner  peculiar 
to  them,  is  used  to  compress  the  juice  from  the  pulp.  This  bag, 
a  foot  or  eighteen  inches  long  and  three  or  four  inches  wide,  is 
half  filled  with  the  pulp.  Two  small  handles  of  wood  are  stuck 
through  the  ends  of  the  bag,  about  the  length  of  a  corkscrew 
handle,  and  used  to  grasp  a  firm  hold,  and  as  levers  by  which 
the  bag  is  twisted  until  the  juice  is  extracted  through  the  pores 
of  the  skin,  which  are  very  open. 

Whether  extracted  or  not  for  immediate  use,  the  dye  is  care- 
fully bottled,  in  glass  if  it  can  be  procured,  or  in  small  bladders, 
if  glass  is  not  to  be  had.  I  say  small  bladders,  because  if  put 
away  in  large  quantities,  the  dye  sometimes  spoils,  they  say,  and 
produces  dingy  colors.  When  put  away  for  future  use  the  light 
is  carefully  excluded  by  overwrapping  with  skins,  or  any  thing 
else,  and  generally  buried  in  the  ground  under  a  shelter  in  which 
fire  is  not  used,  so  as  to  exclude  heat.  The  dyes,  however,  are 
generally  used  soon  as  extracted,  as  during  the  winter  the  women 
prepare  their  best  wool,  and  have  it  ready  in  the  spring  and 
summer  for  the  process  of  dying. 

The  pulp  after  compression  is  put  into  a  small  quantity  of  the 
same  ley  above  spoken  of,  and  permitted  to  remain  several  hours 
to  extract  any  remaining  dye  that  might  be  in  it,  and  undergo 
the  same  squeezing  process  until  no  dye  remains. 

The  ley  is  made  with  care  of  the  ashes  after  burning,  of  the 
green  wood  of  a  shrub  very  similar  to  the  Auralia  Spinosa,  if  it 
be  not  the  same  of  a  stunted  growth.  So  careful  are  they  of  pro- 
curing this  ash  unadulterated,  that  they  have  dry  parcels  of  it 
laid  by  with  which  to  ignite  the  green  wood,  that  the  ashes  may 
not  be  commingled  with  those  of  other  woods.  The  ley  is  usually 
made  in  a  large  gourd,  well  cleaned  and  dried,  with  the  butt  end 
cut  off,  and  a  small  hole  bored  through  the  point  of  the  neck  to 
drip  from.  The  gourd  is  three  quarters  filled  with  the  ashea 
considerably  compressed  in  it,  and  by  a  bale  or  handle  suspended 
from  a  bar  containing  several  of  them.  Each  is  then  filled  with 


356  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

rain  or  pure  river  water :  the  point  is  stopped,  and  the  water 
allowed  to  remain  on  the  ashes  for  a  day  and  night,  and  then 
permitted  to  drip  into  the  vessel  placed  to  catch  the  ley. 

This  ley  is  a  little  colored,  and  is  clarified  by  the  same  process 
of  filtration  through  clean  white  sand,  or  sand  that  has  been 
used  for  the  same  purpose  before  —  when  clarified,  the  ley  is 
used  as  before  stated,  and  especially  to  set  the  colors,  which 
seems  to  be  the  principal  use  of  it.  It  has  no  caustic  quality 
after  filtration,  but  an  astringency  peculiar  to  itself — rather  a 
pungent  than  burning  quality.  It  is  sometimes  used  to  dilute 
the  darker  dyes  and  produce  lighter  shades. 

The  wool  to  be  dyed  is  washed  in  warm  water  until  perfectly 
cleansed  of  the  natural  oil  —  using  the  root  of  a  plant  very  abun- 
dant in  Texas  and  southern  New  Mexico,  as  well  as  most  of  the 
southern  states,  of  a  very  saponaceous  quality,  and  known  as  the 
soap  plant.  In  all  their  best  fabrics  —  blankets,  belts,  leggings, 
etc.,  made  of  wool,  their  finest  fleeces  are  used,  and  it  is  not  un- 
known to  many  of  our  army  officers  and  others,  that  the  ISTavajoes 
give  great  attention  to  their  management  of  sheep,  and  often 
produce  fleeces  almost  or  quite  equal  to  the  merino  in  fineness 
and  softness  of  texture,  by  their  skilful  crosses  and  selections 
made  after  long  and  minute  observations  and  care.  A  Camanche 
and  Navajoe  are  as  much  delighted  with  the  possession  of  a 
superior  ram  and  ewe  as  of  a  fine  horse,  to  the  breeding  of  which 
they  also  give  much  attention.  Yon  Thaer  would  not  be  more 
so  with  the  possession  of  his  finest  buck.  All  their  wool  is  dyed 
before  spinning,  and  this  is  done  by  submerging  it  in  the  dye 
and  letting  it  remain  ten  or  fifteen  days,  the  dye-pot  being  left 
covered :  but  during  this  soaking  the  wool  is  turned  over  once 
every  day.  Sometimes  the  lighter  shades  are  imparted  to  the 
wool  by  soaking  a  shorter  time  —  they  say  this  produces  a  clearer 
tint.  If  not  dark  enough,  the  same  process  is  repeated  with 
fresh  dye.  I  have  been  told  by  my  guide,  that  the  Camanches 
fumigate  the  wool  after  dying,  over  a  smoke  of  the  above 
described  wood,  to  deepen  the  color,  but  I  never  saw  it  done. 

Their  green  color  is  produced  from  the  leaves  of  several  plants, 
the  juice  of  which  is  expressed  in  the  same  manner  as  from  the 
flowers,  and  used  in  the  same  manner. 


DYEING,  SPINNING  AND  WEAVING  BY  THE  CAMANCHES.  357 

Their  brown  color  is  made  from  the  inner  bark,  roots  and 
nuts  of  the  walnut  and  of  other  trees,  much  in  the  same  manner 
as  our  farmer's  wives  now  dye  their  wool  for  home-made  jeans. 

After  the  dyeing  is  finished,  the  wool  is  dried  in  the  shade, 
and  when  well  dried,  exposed  to  the  sun  for  a  few  hours ;  the 
dyeing  is  then  complete,  and  the  wool  ready  for  spinning,  except 
sometimes,  perhaps,  not  always,  they  oil  the  wool  slightly,  and 
diffuse  the  dampness  through  it  by  rubbing  and  rolling  it  in  the 
hands.  I  do  not  know  the  precise  object  of  this,  but  they  say  it 
works  better.  This  does  not  impair  the  color,  for  washing  re- 
stores them  to  their  first  brightness.  It  seems  to  be  the  peculiar 
quality  of  the  set  that  gives  the  lasting  brilliancy  of  the  color.  I 
have  seen  the  Camanche  blankets,  after  being  used  for  months, 
and  abused  by  being  put  under  the  saddle,  saturated  with  sweat, 
rained  upon,  slept  in  upon  the  naked  earth,  and  when  carefully 
washed,  present  the  colors  again,  as  bright  as  newly  dyed  silk. 

The  spinning  is  what  you  would  call  twisting  the  thread ;  this 
is  done  altogether  by  the  fingers,  and  somewhat  similar  to  the 
ancient  distaff,  though  reversing  the  order  of  operation.  The 
distaff  was  used  to  wrap  the  raw  material  upon,  and  the  spool  or 
quill  was  used  not  only  to  wind  the  thread  upon,  but  as  the 
spindle  to  twist  it.  The  Camanches  reverse  this  order,  and  use 
the  raw  material  for  the  spindle,  and  the  spool  only  to  wind  the 
thread  upon.  They  use  no  distaff'. 

In  spinning,  a  small  portion  of 
wool  only  is  used  at  a  time  —  a  mess, 
say,  of  a  quarter  pound  weight,  and 
shaped  like  an  egg,  say  four  or  five 
inches  long,  and  two  or  three  in 
diameter,  is  wrapped  around  with  a 
string  sufficiently  tight  to  keep  it 
together,  but  loose  enough  at  the 
point  to  permit  the  wool  to  be  drawn 
out  for  spinning  the  thread  —  a 
small  stone,  of  an  ounce  or  so  in 
weight,  is  tied  on  the  middle  of  a 
A  CAMANCHE  SPINNING.  stick  of  about  six  inches  in  length 


358  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

(see  d),  and  inserted  in  the  lower  part  of  the  bunch.  This  is  to 
add  weight  to  it  without  increasing  the  size,  and  is  used  as  dead 
weight,  to  increase  and  continue  the  velocity  when  twirled  round 
by  the  fingers. 

The  spinning  is  begun  by  first  twisting  a  thread  of  five  or  six 
inches  in  length,  which  is  wound  around  a  stick  of  ten  or  so 
inches  long,  and  half  an  inch  in  diameter,  which  is  held  in  the 
left  hand,  and  serves  for  the  spool  to  wind  the  thread  upon. 
After  the  thread  is  commenced,  the  spinning  proper  begins,  and 
is  then  continued,  by  constantly  keeping  the  bunch  of  wool 
swiftly  rotating  horizontally,  by  twirling  it  with  the  thumb  and 
middle  fingers;  at  the  moment  the  twirl  is  given,  a  slight  jerk 
downwards  is  made,  to  draw  out  the  wool,  and  a  simultaneous 
slight  yielding  of  the  left  hand,  to  prevent  the  thread  separating 
from  the  mass  until  the  twist  is  given  it,  and  when  sufficiently 
spun,  is  wound  upon  the  spool.  They  usually  spin  three  or  four 
or  six  inches  at  a  time  —  and  wind  up  every  time.  The  thread 
is  usually  twisted  hard,  and  always  doubled  before  weaving.  I 
have  seen  thread  spun  altogether  by  the  fingers,  and  the  spin- 
ning and  weaving  is  by  no  means  confined  to  the  women  ;  men 
are  often  engaged  in  it,  and  exhibit  much  taste  and  skill  in  de- 
vising the  patterns,  as  well  as  blending  the  colors.  After  small 
parcels  of  the  wool  are  well  loosened  by  picking  and  straighten- 
ing with  the  fingers,  it  is  tied  loosely  together  with  a  string,  to 
prevent  the  bunch  falling  apart ;  or  it  is  often  put  in  a  small  bag, 
of  four  or  six  inches  in  diameter,  and  drawn  together  at  the 
mouth,  leaving  portions  of  the  wool  protruding  from  it  in  a 
point,  to  facilitate  its  being  drawn  out  to  form  the  thread.  A 
weight  of  an  ounce  or  two  —  usually  a  flat  stone,  is  tied  in  the 
middle  of  a  stick  of  six  inches  in  length,  and  half  an  inch  in 
diameter,  and  is  enclosed  within  the  wool,  or  the  bag,  near  the 
bottom  of  it,  and  acts  as  a  dead  weight  to  facilitate  the  momen- 
tum when  turning  round.  The  ends  of  the  stick  project  from 
the  mass  of  wool  like  two  handles,  and  are  used  to  twirl  it  with 
the  fingers. 

The  thread  is  usually  about  the  fineness  of  our  good  Osnaburg, 
and  spun  sufficiently  hard  to  twist  readily  when  doubled,  and 


DYEING,  SPINNING  AND  WEAVING  BY  THE  CAMANCHES.  359 

makes  the  doubled  thread  not  very  hard.  After  the  spinning  is 
finished,  and  previous  to  weaving,  the  thread  is  measured,  by 
hanking  it  over  two  pins  a  certain  distance  apart.  This  is  only  to 
ascertain  the  length  of  the  thread  required,  and  is  then  formed 
into  a  ball. 


NAVAJOES  SPINNING. 

The  Navajoes  have  another  and  a  more  artistic  manner  of 
spinning,  for  which  it  has  been  thought  they  were  indebted  to 
white  instructors,  but  which  they  indignantly  deny.  Two  boards, 
of  two  or  three  feet  in  length,  and  three  to  six  inches  in  width, 
as  may  be  procured,  are  pinned  on  opposite  sides  of  the  crotch 
of  a  tree  of  convenient  height,  or  of  two  posts  set  in  the  ground 
near  each  other,  or  two  trees  growing  near  together.  Two  holes 
are  bored  in  the  boards,  one  opposite  the  other,  and  about  one 
and  a  half  inches  in  diameter.  A  limb  of  any  kind  of  tree  with 
a  branch  diverging  at  right  angles,  is  procured.  The  larger  limb 
is  cut  off  about  eighteen  inches  each  way  from  the  branch,  so  as 


360  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

to  be  about  three  feet  long.  The  branch  is  trimmed  oft  to  fit  the 
holes,  and  constitutes  the  spindle.  The  limb  is  used  as  the 
handle,  and  as  a  fly  to  continue  the  momentum.  The  whole 
apparatus  is  unique,  simple  and  efficient,  and  I  would  say  an 
original  one.  (See  section  S,  where  «,  a,  is  the  spindle,  b,  6,  the 
boards,  and  c,  a  pin  to  keep  the  spindle  in  its  place.) 

The  spinning  is  commenced  like  the  first  process,  by  twisting 
with  the  fingers  a  short  thread,  then  fastening  it  to  the  point  of 
the  spindle.  The  spinner  has  already  prepared,  by  picking  with 
her  fingers,  a  quantity  of  wool  which  she  has  in  her  basket  or 
bag,  tied  around  her  waist,  or  in  a  bundle  like  the  one  described 
in  the  previous  process.  A  person  twirls  around  the  handle  or 
fly  (see  ^),  and  the  spinner  keeps  moving  backwards,  as  the  thread 
is  formed.  The  process  is  much  the  same  as  that  by  which  our 
rope  makers  spin  hemp  by  hand.  A  thread  of  six  or  eight  feet  in 
length,  is  spun  before  being  wound  up. 

The  Indian  never  spins  until  he  or  she  has  a  specific  work  to 
perform.  The  size,  plan,  configuration,  and  every  other  re- 
quisite, is  first  determined.  The  quantity  of  thread  required  for 
any  piece  of  work,  is  from  long  habit,  pretty  accurately  known. 
I  think  I  have. said  already,  that  all  their  weaving  is  done  with 
a  double  and  twisted  thread.  They  waste  no  thread.  They 
usually  spin  a  small  quantity  and  weave,  and  then  spin  again, 
and  so  on,  until  the  work  is  completed.  The  process  is  the  same 
for  cotton,  wool,  grass,  etc. 

"Weaving  is  the  most  elaborate  of  their  arts,  and  they  make 
beautiful  work.  Their  blankets,  or  I  should  call  them  shawls, 
are  often  rich,  strong  and  showy.  Some  have  a  resemblance  to 
the  Persian  shawl.  They  frequently  sell  in  Mexico  for  three 
hundred  dollars,  and  I  have  seen  them  sell  in  New  Orleans  for 
two  hundred  dollars.  I  have  one  in  my  possession,  taken  by 
Gen.  Houston  at  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  which  cost  three 
hundred  dollars.  They  are  usually  impervious  to  water,  very 
heavy,  and  are  rather  plaited  together  than  woven.  The  time 
occupied  in  making  one  of  these,  is  from  four  to  six,  and  some- 
times eight  months. 


A  FORTNIGHT  AMONG  THE  CHIPPEWAS  OF  LAKE 

SUPERIOR.^ 

BY  PBOF.  I.  I.  DTJCATEL. 

One  of  the  conditions,  in  the  purchase  from  the  Chippewa  In- 
dians of  the  vast  tract  of  land  lying  in  Wisconsin  territory,  and 
partly  in  the  state  of  Michigan  to  the  south  of  Lake  Superior,  is 
the  payment  to  them  of  a  stipulated  annuity,  consisting  of  articles 
of  clothing,  blankets,  kettles,  guns,   and  ammunition,  together 
with  a  certain  amount  in  specie.     To  receive  this  annuity,  they 
are  notified  hy  the  Indian  agents  to  assemble  at  the"most  con- 
venient places  for  the  transportation  of  the  goods  within  some 
specified  period.     This  year  (1835),  those  inhabiting  the  southern 
coast  of  Lake  Superior  from  the  Ance  up,  those  to  the  east  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  on  the  head  waters  of  that  river,  as  far  as  Leech 
lake,  were  required  to  assemble  on  the  10th  of  August  at  La- 
pointe,  the  principal  trading  post  of  the  American  Fur^Company. 
It  appears  that  the  whole  number  of  these  Indians  entered  upon 
the  rent  roll  of  that  year  was  5030,  of  whom,  however,  not  one- 
half  of  the  number  came  forward,  the  remainder  being  represented 
by  proxy.     The  amount  to  be  distributed  was  twenty-eight  thou- 
sand dollars  in  clothing,  and  twenty-two  thousand  dollars  in  cash, 
with  a  further  allowance  of  five  thousand  dollars  for  provisions 
dealt  out  to  them  during  their  stay  at  the  post  and  the  balance  of 
which  they  are  permitted  to  take  along  with  them.    Among  those 
admitted  to  this  distribution  are,  not  only  the  roving  Indians, 
but  likewise  the  settled  half  breeds ;  these  being  supposed  to 
have  inherited  a  share  in  the  sovereignty  of  the  soil. 

The  annual  recurrence  of  this  payment  (L'bahmahtin,  as  the 
Indians  call  it),  brings  together  a  great  many  families  ;  for  not 
only  do  the  men  come,  but  they  bring  along  with  them  the  women 
and  children  and  dogs.  They  build  up  their  wigwams  along  the 
shores  of  the  beautiful  bay  of  Lapointe,  locating  themselves  ac- 


Reprinted  from  The  United  States  Catholic  Magazine  (Baltimore),  for  January  and  February,  1846. 


362  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

cording  to  bands,  but  without  any  reference  to  conveniency  of 
arrangement — the  result  seemingly  of  an  unpremeditated  impulse. 
Their  lodges,  that  are  dome-shaped,  made  of  bent  saplings  and 
covered  with  birch  bark,  are  carelessly  put  up  and  unsightly, 
and,  being  in  scattered  groups,  without  any  line  of  bearing,  as  a 
geologist  would  say.  they  produce  no  picturesque  effect  by  them- 
selves, but  require  other  adventitious  circumstances  to  relieve  the 
sameness  of  their  appearance.  On  the  present  occasion  there  are 
not  more  than  two  thousand  Indians  assembled,  and  their  per- 
sonal appearance  is  far  from  being  prepossessing — but  very  few 
good  looking  men  and  still  fewer  well  looking  women.  The 
children  alone  are  attractive  by  their  healthful  look,  their  play- 
fulness, and  their  noise.  The  half-naked  men  are  wrapped  up 
in  dirty  blankets,  with  their  faces  horridly  besmeared  with  paint; 
the  women  are  decently  covered,  but  unwashed  and  uncombed ; 
their  children  pretty  much  in  the  same  bodily  condition,  except 
that  some  have  a  little  clothing  on,  whilst  others  have  none  at  all. 

The  animation  of  an  Indian  camp  consists  in  a  motley  set  of 
half-clad  human  beings  of  the  male  sex,  squatted  upon  the  ground, 
sullenly  smoking  their  pipes,  or  seated  in  circular  groups  playing 
cards,  or  their  favorite  and  more  animated  mukkesinnahdah- 
dewug  (which  will  be  presently  described) ;  women  and  little 
girls  moving  about  the  fires,  cooking  and  fetching  water,  and  a 
parcel  of  idle  boys  kicking  at  each  other,  wrestling  and  scream- 
ing at  the  top  of  their  voices,  or  teazing  a  whole  gang  of  half- 
starved  dogs  that  bark  and  growl. 

The  old  women  scarcely  ever  leave  the  lodges ;  young  women 
or  maidens  are  never  seen  intermixed  with  the  men,  or  partici- 
pating in  their  amusements.  They  move  at  a  distance  from  them ; 
the  mothers  with  their  babes,  swaddled,  in  a  hod  which  is  carried 
on  the  back,  or  simply  supported,  in  the  same  way,  by  a  blanket 
worn  as  a  shawl.  The  young  women  are  cheerful  in  their  looks, 
and  modest  in  their  deportment.  They  have  a  more  cleanly  ap- 
pearance than  the  squaws,  are  more  talkative  among  themselves, 
and  the  better  sort  ornament  their  arms  and  ankles  with  bands  of 
bead  work,  and  wear  de.cent  ear  rings  with  bead  necklaces.  They 
seldom  disfigure  themselves  with  paint.  This  folly  is  principally 


A  FORTNIGHT  AMONG  THE  CHIPPEWAS.  363 

confined  to  the  men,  who  seem,  indeed,  much  fonder  also  of 
trinkets  than  the  women.  A  warrior  will  be  seen  with  a  dozen 
of  eagle's  feathers  handed  round  his  head,  his  face  painted  red, 
blue,  and  black,  with  a  red  circle  around  one  eye  and  a  blue 
one  around  the  other,  a  great  slit  in  his  ear,  from  which  de- 
pends a  profusion  of  tinselled  ornaments  and  the  like  hung 
round  his  neck,  a  gaudily  embroidered  belt  of  bead  work,  with 
leggins  of  the  same  material,  and  thus  attired,  he  struts  about 
like  a  peacock.  One  of  this  class  offered  five  dollars  for  a 
turkey  cock ;  on  being  asked  what  he  wanted  to  do  with  it,  it 
was  solely  to  possess  its  tail  feathers  to  ornament  his  head. 
Strange  are  their  notions  of  improvement  in  this  conchoidal 
appendage  to  the  human  head.  They  wrill  stick  long  plated 
arrows  into  them,  even  as  our  own  fair  countrywomen  stick 
similar  darts  through  their  hair.  They  fix  knives  and  forks 
into  these  auricular  slits,  arid  some  have  been  seen  with  a  comb 
thus  preposterously  located.  The  young  female  barbarian  does 
not  venture  upon  these  extravagances;  but,  like  a  Christian 
daughter,  is  satisfied  with  a  simple  ear  ring.  Useless  as  it  may 
be,  this  supererogatory  fixture  conveys  no  meretricious  intention 
on  the  part  of  the  Indian  girl ;  for  it  is  worn  alike  by  the 
woman  and  the  maid ;  but  upon  what  notion  of  good  taste  do  our 
civilized  daughters  imitate  this  savage  custom  ?  As  our  young 
women  don't  take  snuff,  why  not  hang  rings  to  their  noses,  like- 
wise ?  Surely  a  fine  engraving  of  Queen  Victoria  would  set  off 
her  royal  majesty's  head  much  better  without  the  bodkins. 

But  to  return  to  the  payment.  It  is  accomplished  in  this  way. 
The  agent  having  adjusted  the  rent-roll,  which  he  does  upon  the 
returns  of  the  chiefs  of  the  several  bands  —  each  of  whom  is  the 
bearer  of  a  bundle  of  small  sticks  that  represent  the  number  of 
members  belonging  to  his  clan,  and,  strange  to  say,  this  is  the 
only  way  they  can  be  made  to  enumerate  themselves  —  the  goods 
are  then  allotted  and  distributed  by  bands. 

This  adjustment  of  the  rent-roll  is  not,  however,  unattended 
with  difficulties  ;  the  agent  being  the  auditor  of  all  claims  and 
bars  against  the  regular  division  of  the  property.  Some  of  the 
claims  against  the  payment  in  full  to  a  band  are  peculiar  to  the 


364  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Indian  social  condition.  Thus,  if  a  manslaughter  has  been  com- 
mitted to  the  damage  of  a  family  of  any  one  band,  by  an  indi- 
vidual of  another,  the  injured  party  demands  indemnity  from  the 
aggressor  out  of  his  portion  of  the  annuity,  if  he  be  able  to  give 
it;  if  not,  he  asks  it  from  the  whole  band  to  which  he  belongs. 
In  the  same  way  any  accidental  or  mischievous  damage  done  by 
one  band  to  another,  or  by  the  Indians  to  our  own  people,  is  sure 
to  be  met  with  a  claim  for  indemnities,  requiring  not  only  judg- 
ment, but  firmness  on  the  part  of  the  agent  to  allow  or  reject. 
To  carry  on  this  sort  of  litigation,  there  are  numerous  conferences 
and  "  talks,"  that  afford  not  the  least  interesting  occasions  for 
studying  the  Indian  character. 

At  one  of  these  talks,  Biziki,  or  Buffalo,  spoke  pretty  much  to 
this  effect  upon  the  subject  of  Indian  aggressions.  After  offering 
his  salutations,  and  those  of  his  band  who  were  seated  round  the 
hall,  first  to  their  great  father  at  Washington,  and  then  to  the  Indian 
agent,  he  said  "  that  his  people  had  been  accused  of  committing 
aggressions  upon  the  whites  —  he  thought  it  probable  that  some  of 
the  thoughtless  young  men  might  have  done  so,  and  if  he  knew 
who  they  were  he  would  certainly  point  out  to  them  how  much 
against  their  interest  it  is  to  do  such  things.  He  had  made  some 
inquiries  about  the  alleged  aggressions,  and  he  thought  that  when 
they  came  to  be  examined  into  they  would  be  found  of  a  very 
trifling  nature,  and  more  intended  as  a  retaliation  for  much 
greater  aggressions  on  the  part  of  the  white  men.  He  said  that 
his  people  were  satisfied  with  the  assistance  and  the  advice  which 
the  great  father  had  caused  to  be  given  to  them,  and  that  they 
were  thankful  to  him  for  his  presents.  He  had  advised  his  people 
himself,  as  the  agent  had  last  year  asked  him  to  do,  to  turn  their 
attention,  more  than  they  had  previously  done,  to  the  cultivation 
of  their  soil,  to  the  planting  of  corn  and  of  potatoes ;  but  that 
the  wide  woods  were  still  full  of  game,  and  the  deep  waters  full 
of  fish,  and  that  it  was  difficult  to  prevail  upon  the  young  men 
to  abandon  these  resources,  to  go  about  turning  up  the  ground. 
They  preferred  to  leave  that  to  the  care  of  the  women,  who 
seemed  to  be  better  fitted  for  such  drudgery.  He  would,  how- 
ever, continue  to  advise  them  gradually  to  break  themselves  into 


A  FORTNIGHT  AMONG  THE  CHIPPEWAS.  365 

this  new  system,  if  it  were  only  to  keep  them  from  the  tempta- 
tion, when  they  were  pinched  by  want,  to  trespass  upon  the 
potato  patches  of  the  white  men.  Yet  he  was  of  opinion  that  if 
the  agent  looked  carefully  into  the  matter,  he  would  find  that  the 
aggressions  came  most  frequently  from  the  whites  upon  the 
Indians." 

He  now  signified  that  he  had  spoken  all  he  had  to  say.  And, 
advancing  to  the  agent,  gave  him  his  hand,  and  in  succession  to 
all  those  seated  round  the  agent's  table. 

On  another  occasion,  Singoup,  or  Balsam  Tree,  spoke  in  some 
such  a  strain  as  this.  After  making  the  usual  salutation,  he  said 
that  he  probably  would  be  considered  as  having  spoken  like  a 
child.  "  The  truth  is,"  he  said,  "  I  am  now  a  child  —  the  time 
was  when  I  was  a  man,  and  then  I  spoke  like  a  man ;  but  now 
I  speak  like  a  child,  because  my  young  men  treat  me  as  if  I  was 
a  child.  When  I  was  a  British  Indian  I  was  treated  by  the 
British  agents  like  anian — they  spoke  well  of  me,  which  my  young 
men  heard,  and  they  gave  me  presents,  which  my  young  men  saw, 
and  that  caused  them  to  respect  me ;  but  now  that  I  am  an  Ame- 
rican Indian,  I  am  not  noticed  by  the  great  father,  and  my  young 
men  think  that  I  am  not  in  favor,  and,  therefore,  they  treat  me 
like  a  child.  I  used  to  give  them  good  advice,  which  they  heeded ; 
but  now  they  don't  listen  to  what  I  say.  It  is  not  my  fault.  If 
they  become  dissatisfied,  great  mischief  may  arise  out  of  it  — 
they  may  again  draw  the  knife  —  and  there  may  be  a  great  deal 
of  bloodshed.  It  was  not  so  when  I  was  a  British  Indian ;  but 
now  I  am  a  child,  and  must  expect  to  be  treated  like  a  child." 

To  which  the  Indian  agent  replied  very  appropriately,  "  that 
there  was  nothing  more  true  than  that  he  had  spoken  like  a  child ; 
but  it  was  not  true  that  he  had  not  been  as  well  spoken  of  or 
treated  as  the  other  chiefs.  Whenever  it  was  known  that  he  had 
given  good  advice  to  his  people,  he  had  been  lauded  for  it,  and 
received  presents.  As  to  his  taunting  him  (the  agent)  with  what 
he  was  when  a  British  Indian,  it  was  a  matter  of  perfect  indiffer- 
ence —  the.  great  father  at  Washington  had  ample  power  to  keep 
all  children  under  obedience,  and  would  do  so ;  that  he  would 
reward  where  reward  was  due,  and  punish  where  punishment 


366  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

was  merited.  He  talked  of  bloodshed ;  he  (the  agent)  could  tell 
them,  and  he  was  glad  to  have  an  opportunity  of  saying  so  in  the 
presence  of  the  young  men  here  assembled,  that  if  they  dared  to 
respond  to  such  sentiments  as  those  expressed  by  the  chief,  they 
would  sorely  repent  of  it.  Yes,  Singoup,"  said  the  agent,  "  you 
have  indeed  spoken  like  a  child.  At  one  time  I  thought  you 
were  a  good  man ;  I  fear  now  that  I  was  mistaken,  though  I  still 
hope  that  your  speech  was  prompted  by  some  momentary  ebuli- 
tion  of  passion,  that  your  better  sense  will  cause  you  to  repent  of. 
If  you  wish  to  speak  again,  speak  like  a  man,  not  like  a  whining 
child,  or  a  woman."  Singoup,  who  had  been  during  this  severe 
reprimand  composedly  smoking  his  pipe,  then  rose  once  more 
and  blandly  said  "  that  what  he  had  said  amounted  to  nothing  at 
all.  He  only  wished  to  see  what  effect  it  would  have  upon  his 
young  men."  He  then  advanced  and  shook  hands,  not  a  little 
to  the  amusement,  though  surprise  of  all,  at  this  ingenuous  way 
of  getting  out  of  a  scrape. 

There  are  two  occasions  when  the  Indian  character  shows  itself 
strongly :  at  their  dances  and  when  they  are  gambling.  During 
the  period  of  the  payment  the  performance  of  the  pipe-dance, 
together  with  the  war-dance,  is  a  very  frequent  exhibition  with 
them ;  and  as  they  resort  to  it  for  the  express  purpose  of  levying 
a  contribution  upon  the  merchants  and  traders  of  Lapointe,  it 
has  been  more  significantly  called  the  "  begging-dance."  Ac- 
cordingly they  make  great  preparations  for  its  coming  off  with 
effect  —  such  as  annointing  their  limbs,  painting  their  bodies  in 
the  most  fantastical  manner,  and,  barely  saving  decency,  appear 
almost  naked.  After  promenading  the  village,  they  assemble 
before  the  agency  house,  and  other  places  where  they  expect  to 
be  treated,  and  commence  their  performances.  The  pipe-dance 
is  usually  a  pas  seul,  danced  by  the  most  expert  balerini  of  the 
troup  in  turns,  and  consists  in  grotesque  arid  violent  distortions 
of  the  body,  indicative  more  of  suppleness  than  of  strength,  but 
having  no  pretensions  whatever  to  grace.  It  precedes  the  war- 
dance,  in  which  the  whole  corps  de  ballet  unite  in  equally  violent 
contortions  of  limbs,  and  quasi  martial  exercises  of  march- 
ing and  countermarching,  interspersed  with  the  firing  off  of 


A  FORTNIGHT  AMONG  THE  CHIPPEWAS.  367 

pistols,  brandishing  of  knives,  going  through  the  sham  action  of 
slaying  and  scalping  an  enemy,  and  making  animated  harangues. 
Both  dances  are  accompanied  by  a  monotonous  beating  upon  a 
kettle,  or  a  tight  skin,  and  the  jingling  of  bells,  that  are  played 
by  the  elders  of  the  band,  who  seem  to  delight  in  the  sport,  and 
contribute  to  it  by  an  incessant  chant.  Nemeewin  is  their  generic 
name  for  a  dance ;  opwagun-nemeewin  is  the  pipe-dance,  and  meda- 
weewin  the  grand  medicine  dance.  The  boys  sometimes  fall  into 
the  dance ;  but  the  women  never ;  and  only  a  few,  ensconced 
behind  the  fences,  are  even  spectators  of  it.  The  dance  being 
over,  the  party  is  usually  at  the  factory  treated  with  some  crackers 
and  cheese  ;  and  a  pail  of  sweetened  water  into  which  has  been 
poured  a  bottle  or  two  of  essence  of  peppermint,  is  brought  out 
to  which  they  help  themselves  at  discretion.  They  are  very  fond 
of  this  sort  of  mint  julep,  which  they  call  mahkahwahgomik. 

The  Indians  are  inveterate  gamblers.  They  have  combined  a 
game  of  cards  (ahtahdewenog]  which  is  said  by  those  who  play  it 
to  be  full  of  interest  and  ingenuity.  But  their  favorite  game  is 
the  mukesinnahdahdewog,  or  moccasin  game.  It  is  played  with 
four  bullets  (one  of  which  is  jagged)  and  four  moccasins.  The 
four  bullets  are  to  be  hid,  one  under  each  moccasin,  by  the  first 
player,  whose  deal  is  decided  by  throwing  up  a  knife  and  letting 
it  fall  on  the  blanket,  the  direction  of  the  blade  indicating  the 
person  who  is  to  hide  first.  The  four  bullets  are  held  in  the  right 
hand,  and  the  left  hand  is  kept  moving  from  one  moccasin  to 
the  other ;  whilst  the  player,  with  a  peculiar  manner  calculated 
to  divert  the  attention  of  the  one  with  whom  he  is  playing,  and 
with  an  incessant  chant  accompanied  by  a  swinging  motion  of 
the  head  and  trunk,  passes  his  bullet  hand  under  the  moccasins 
depositing  a  bullet  under  each.  The  other  is  to  guess  where  the 
jagged  bullet  is,  but  not  at  the  first  trial;  for  if  he  strike  upon 
it  the  first  time,  he  loses  four  sticks  —  there  being  twenty  alto- 
gether, that  are  used  as  counters ;  if  the  second  time  he  make  a 
similar  guess,  then  he  loses  three  sticks  ;  but  if  he  guess  the 
situation  of  the  jagged  bullet  the  third  time,  then  he  gains  four 
sticks ;  finally  should  the  bullet  remain  under  the  fourth  mocca- 
sin, the  guesser  loses  four  sticks.  The  game  continues  until  the 


368  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

twenty  sticks  have  passed  from  one  hand  to  the  other.  At  this 
game,  of  which  they  are  very  fond,  they  stake  every  thing  about 
them  and  sometimes  come  away  literally  stripped.  The  groups 
that  are  thus  collected  present  the  most  characteristic  of  Indian 
habits.  There  will  be  twenty  sitting  down  and  as  many  standing 
round,  intent  upon  the  progress  of  the  game,  which  is  carried  on 
in  silence,  except  on  the  part  of  the  hider. 

Another  game  of  chance,  and  perhaps  the  only  other  after 
cards,  and  the  one  just  described,  is  ihepahgehsehwog,  or  pan-play, 
which  consists  in  guessing  at  any  thing,  or  number  of  things, 
enclosed  between  two  pans.  The  men  also  amuse  themselves 
at  foot  races  for  a  wager,  and  shooting  with  the  bow  and  arrow, 
which  is  termed  pahpahmetehgwahdah.  The  boys  have  a  few  games 
of  their  own  :  one  consists  in  pitching  pins  into  a  hole  as  our  boys 
pitch  marbles ;  this  is  called  ahtahdedah-nesaguahbedeun.  They 
also  play  at  ball  by  throwing  it  out  and  catching  it  with  a  stick, 
the  end  of  which  is  curled  up  and  makes  the  opening  a  pocket  of 
net  work ;  this  is  their  pahgahto-wahnak.  But  their  favorite  amuse- 
ment seems  to  be  a  game  at  marbles,  which  must  have  been 
taught  to  them  by  the  French  Catholic  missionaries  j1  for  it  is 
the  same  that  is  played  at  all  the  Catholic  schools  and  colleges 
of  our  country,  was  at  one  time  exclusively  played  at  these  insti- 
tutions, though  now  known  every  where.  It  is  what  our  boys 
call,  if  the  recollection  serves  well,  "  knuckling."  The  Indian 
boys  call  it  ninijoweh-ehdehdah.  They  play  also  at  "  hop-scop," 
and  they  have  their  shosehman,  or  snow  stick,  about  the  length  of 
a  common  walking  cane  cut  out  in  the  shape  of  a  sledge,  which 
they  cause  to  slide  over  the  snow  or  ice.  He  who  sends  it  farthest, 
upon  a  bet  wins.  The  only  plays  observed  among  the  girls,  is 
the  pahpahjekahwewog,  a  sort  of  substitute  for  our  "  graces," 
which  simply  consists  in  catching  with  tw»  sticks  a  twine  loaded 
at  each  end  with  a  ball ;  and  another,  to  which  they  give  the 
name  of  paskahwewog,  is  a  sort  of  "  cup-and-ball,"  in  which  a  pin 
is  used  instead  of  the  ball,  and  is  caught,  by  a  similar  arrange- 
ment to  our  game,  on  its  point. 


Cards  were  introduced  among  them  by  the  British  and  American  traders. 


A  FORTNIGHT  AMONG  THE  OHTPPEWAS.  369 

The  Indian  boys  (kwewezens)  are  very  fond  of  wrestling,  a 
gymnastic  which  they  term  kahguahjewah-nahawin.  They  never 
box ;  their  usual  mode  of  fighting  being  to  kick  at  each  other  — 
tunggishkoo-dahdawin ;  they  practice  this  exercise  also  for  amuse- 
ment. The  men  (enenewug)  never  fight  except  with  bloody  inten- 
tions. The  women  (equawug)  and  girls  (equesens)  do  frequently, 
with  all  the  destructive  manipulations  of  the  sex  in  every  clime. 
A  very  remarkable  trait  of  character  in  the  Indians  is,  that  they 
never  quarrel,  nor  address  insulting  epithets  to  each  other.  If 
one  wishes  to  speak  ill  of  another,  he  will  do  so  in  his  presence, 
but  addresses  himself  to  a  third  person  ;  the  insulted  party  either 
listens  to  it  in  silence,  goes  away,  takes  no  notice  of  it,  or  re- 
sents it  by  a  manslaughter. 

The  Chippewas  appear  not  to  be  musical.  The  Ottowas  who 
assemble  at  the  Sault  and  at  Mackinaw  are  much  more  so,  as 
on  the  occasions  of  their  payment  they  buy  fifes,  flutes,  and 
fiddles,  which  they  use  taut  bien  que  mal;  but  a  Chippewa's  notion 
of  music  is  concentrated  in  his  tawahegtm,  or  drum,  and  the  jews- 
harp  madwawechegance.  They  have  songs,  but  they  could  not  be 
prevailed  upon  to  sing  them. 

It  may  be  said  of  the  Indians  that,  either  by  temperament  and 
some  peculiarity  of  physical  structure,  or  from  a  moral  propen- 
sity, they  are  essentially  a  sluggish  race  —  exhibiting  none  of  that 
restlessness  of  the  white  man  which  is  ever  in  quest  of  something 
beyond  the  complete  gratification  of  the  wants  of  the  body. 
Hunger  rather  interrupts  than  overcomes  their  habit  of  bodily 
indolence  ;  but  it  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  Indian  character  to  re- 
main as  long  as  possible  in  a  state  of  quiescence.  Hence  they 
are  essentially  too  improvident.  The  only  provisions  that  are 
made  for  the  long  and  dreary  winter  of  their  climate  consist  in 
planting  and  gathering  a  few  potatoes  and  a  v  ry  little  corn ;  the 
only  summer  gifts  that  are  hoarded  are  the  wild  rice  and  whortle- 
berries, dried  and  put  by,  not  as  a  delicacy,  but  for  nourishment. 
The  maple  sugar  is  more  an  object  of  traffic  than  a  provision. 
They  rely,  in  fact,  mainly  upon  game  and  fish.  Some  of  the 
least  improvident  prepare  a  little  smoked  deer's  meat,  or  other 
game,  and  render  the  tallow  or  lard  of  the  slain  animals,  which 
25 


370  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

they  put  in  holes  called  caches.  In  these  caches  they  also  bury 
fish  for  great  emergencies. 

The  only  industrial  arts  practiced  by  the  Indians  are  canoe 
building,  making  of  nets  and  mats,  and  the  manufacture  of  a 
variety  of  useful  and  ornamental  articles  with  the  birch  bark. 
The  birch,  indeed,  seems  to  have  been  made  expressly  for  the 
Indian.  With  its  bark  he  makes  his  canoe,  named  by  him 
gemaun;  the  frame  work  of  which  is  of  yellow  cedar,  bound 
together  with  the  fibrous  roots  of  the  spruce  pine,  and  this  is 
covered  over  with  birch  bark,  rolled  into  sheets  of  various  sizes 
that  are  sewed  together  with  cords  or  threads  of  the  spruce  root ; 
finally,  the  seams  are  covered  over  with  gum,  made  of  the  exuda- 
tion of  the  spruce  boiled  down  to  a  proper  consistency,  to  which 
is  added  powdered  charcoal  from  the  pine,  to  give  color  to  the 
mastic.  The  birch  bark  is  made  into  troughs  (pisketahnahgwi) 
in  which  the  maple  sugar  (sinzibuckwud)  is  gathered  in  March  and 
April,  by  merely  cutting  a  gash  in  the  tree  from  downwards  up, 
and  putting  into  it  a  chip  of  wood  to  direct  the  sap  into  the  trough. 
With  the  birch  bark  is  also  manufactured  the  sugar  basket 
(mukkuk),  and  a  variety  of  other  baskets  and  boxes  for  useful 
purposes.  There  are  some  families  that  possess  as  household 
utensils  from  one  to  two  thousand  birch  troughs,  used  to  collect 
the  saccharine  juice  of  the  maple.  The  wegewan  is  built  of 
birch  bark,  and  out  of  this  bark  the  Indian  makes  himself  a  scroll 
(totem)  upon  which,  in  hieroglyphics  of  his  own  invention,  he  in- 
scribes his  coat  of  arms,  a  bird,  a  bear,  a  beaver,  an  owl,  a  fish, 
or  animal  of  any  kind,  and  marks  down  the  number  of  members, 
old  and  young,  belonging  to  his  family.  The  bark  is  also  used 
in  preference  to  any  other  substance  for  kindling  fires ;  it  burns 
with  a  bright  flame  that  adapts  it  for  use  as  a  torch-light  in  tak- 
ing fish  by  night.  The  Indian  seems  to  be  aware  of  the  peculiar 
adaption  of  this  tree  to  his  wants;  for,  if  he  has  anything  of 
value  to  preserve,  he  wraps  it  up  carefully  in  its  bark.  The 
wood,  too,  is  useful  in  its  juice  as  a  beverage;  its  young  shoots 
collect  a  number  ol  rabbits,  and  wild  pigeons  are  particularly 
fond  of  its  blossoms. 

In  the  ornamental  articles  of  Indian  manufacture  that  serve  as 


A  FORTNIGHT  AMONG  THE  CHIPPEWAS.  371 

portions  of  their  dress,  such  as  the  ties  or  garters  for  leggins, 
the  belts,  saches,  pouches,  etc.,  that  are  made  of  colored  beads,  a 
prevailing  idea  of  the  cross  is  observed,  probably  imitated  from 
the  vestment  of  the  Catholic  priests  who  first  settled  among 
them,  from  whom  also  they  have  acquired  many  usages  not 
riginally  theirs.  The  moccasins  worn  by  the  females  are 
frequently  very  neatly  lined  with  blue  cloth,  and  tastefully 
ornamented  with  bead  work.  Those  of  the  men  are  decorated 
on  the  fore  part  of  the  foot,  like  the  worked  cloth  slipper  of  the 
civilized  gentleman.  The  most  desirable  article  of  female  dress 
appears  to  be  a  shawl  of  superfine  blue  cloth,  which  is  more  fre- 
quently borne  upon  the  head  than  the  shoulders.  Whether  it  be 
that  the  women  have  not  so  readily  the  means  of  procuring  them, 
they  do  not  wear  as  many  ornaments  as  the  men ;  but  they  are 
pleased  to  deck  their  children  with  them. 

A  very  remarkable  trait  in  the  character  of  the  Indian  mother 
is  her  excessive  fondness  for  her  children,  who  are  indulged  in 
every  way,  are  never  chastised,  and  whose  loss  is  bewailed  with 
great  demonstrations  of  sorrow.  The  men  play  with  the  young 
children,  but  take  no  notice  of  the  growing  up  boys,  who  are 
suffered  to  do  just  as  they  please,  and  are  very  mischievous. 
When  the  men  are  too  much  annoyed  by  them,  they  knuckle 
them  on  the  head,  but  have  never  recourse  to  flagellation.  In 
this  latter  respect  they  have  certainly  an  advantage  over  the 
white  man,  who  has  not  yet  discarded  from  his  system  of  disci- 
pline the  ferule  and  the  whip.  The  Indian  is  also  fond  of  his 
dogs ;  whenever  a  canoe  is  met  coasting  the  shores  of  the  lake, 
the  sire  is  at  the  helm,  the  squaw  and  grown  up  boys  or  girls 
are  paddling,  the  helpless  children  and  a  pack  of  dogs  are  the 
steerage  passengers.  The  dogs  have  their  litter  in  the  wigwam  ; 
but  if  one  is  accidentally  killed,  or  if  necessity  compels  his  slaugh- 
ter, he  is  boiled  into  soup,  and  feasted  upon  as  a  great  delicacy. 
The  Indian  pets  them,  as  the  white  man  does  the  lamb,  and 
feeds  them  to  gratify  his  appetite. 

The  Indians  are  certainly  not  what  the  French  would  call 
gourmets,  but  rather  gourmands;  in  other  words  whenever  the 
food  is  provided  for  them,  they  are  great  eaters,  and  not  dainty 


372  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

at  that.  Their  culinary  art  is  even  more  circumscribed  than 
their  handicraft,  since  it  extends  no  further  than  boiling  their 
meat,  fish  and  vegetables  in  one  promiscuous  chowder,  with  not 
even  salt  as  a  condiment.  This  disrelish  for  salt,  or  perhaps  it 
might  be  better  stated,  this  indifference  to  the  use  of  it,  is  equally 
remarkable  amongst  the  half  breeds,  and  even  with  the  Canadian 
voyageurs  of  Lake  Superior,  who  seem  to  be  quite  satisfied  with 
what  is  contained  of  it  in  the  packed  pork,  of  which  they  are 
so  fond  as  to  have  richly  merited  the  cognomen  of  "  mangeurs  de 
lard." 

At  the  distribution  of  the  rations,  during  their  sojourn  at  the 
post  where  the  annuity  is  paid  off  to  them,  other  traits  of  man- 
ners are  observable,  not  at  all  of  a  disparaging  character,  as  they 
evince  a  spirit  of  concession,  and  a  sense  of  justice,  which,  on 
the  contrary,  are  highly  creditable  to  them.  The  rations  are 
dealt  from  the  store  house  of  the  American  Fur  Company,  upon 
a  requisition  given  by  the  Indian  agent  to  the  chief  of  each  band, 
who  sends  the  women  and  children  to  receive  them  —  the 
drudgery  of  domestic  affairs  always  devolving  upon  the  women. 
It  is  amusing  to  see  them  trudging  along  under  their  load  of 
provisions  that  are  very  liberally  distributed,  the  little  naked 
papooses,  with  their  stomachs  inordinately  distended  by  a  previous 
feeding,  and  carrying  nearly  their  own  weight  of  provender. 
The  women  have  a  full  share  of  the  burden,  though,  if  a  barrel 
of  flour  form  a  portion  of  the  allotment,  the  chieftain,  or  his  male 
subdelegate,  faithful  to  his  disrelish  of  manual  exercises,  kicks  it 
to  its  destination.  Arrived  at  their  camping  ground,  the  women 
and  young  members  of  the  clan  seat  themselves  in  a  circle  two 
or  three  deep,  and  the  chief  proceeds  in  the  distribution  accord- 
ing to  families,  the  whole  procedure  being  conducted  with  much 
order,  apparent  mutual  satisfaction,  and  without  noise. 

The  only  disturbances  noticed  during  the  encampment  at  La- 
pointe,  took  place  once  on  the  occasion  of  a  trader  beating  his 
squaw,  and  then  the  excitement  seemed  to  be  principally  amongst 
the  travelers,  who  indignantly  protested  against  this  summary 
mode  of  punishing  a  refractory  wife.  The  Indians  took  no  part  in 
the  excitement,  because  it  was  understood  that  the  discipline  had 


A  FORTNIGHT  AMONG  THE  CHII*PEWAS.  373 

been  recommended  by  the  woman's  own  parents.  The  poor 
thing  was  perfectly  submissive  under  rather  an  unnecessarily 
severe  castigation.  The  Indians  themselves  never  beat  their 
wives.  On  a  second  occasion,  during  a  thunder  storm  of  great 
violence  which  raged  through  the  night,  the  whole  camp  suddenly 
became  dreadfully  distressed,  the  men  expressing  their  alarm  by 
yells,  the  women  and  children  by  meanings  and  loud  sobs,  as  if 
they  had  already  realized  some  dreadful  calamity.  At  every 
vivid  flash  of  lightning,  as  if  to  efface  its  trace,  they  would  fire 
off  volleys  of  musquetry,  and  each  rolling  peal  of  thunder  was 
accompanied  by  shouts  and  whoops,  calculated  if  not  to  drown, 
at  least  to  divert  the  attention  from  the  raging  of  the  elements. 
There  was  some  danger  in  this  strife ;  for  the  unprotected  store 
house  contained  a  large  number  of  powder  kegs,  whose  explo- 
sion would  have  made  sad  havoc  in  the  camp. 

But  a  much  more  melancholy  occurrence  took  place  on  the  last 
night  of  the  payment.  It  is  a  very  judicious  custom  with  the  In- 
dian agents  to  withhold  the  specie  payment  of  the  annuity  until 
the  final  day,  so  as  to  prevent  as  much  as  possible  any  impositions 
to  be  practiced  by  the  white  traders  upon  the  Indians,  or  to 
guard  against  any  allurements  by  the  unprincipled  conduct  of 
some  of  these  mercenary  venders,  in  the  way  especially  of  the 
sale  of  liquor.  The  cupidity  of  a  few,  however,  will  defy  all  laws, 
and  notwithstanding  the  penalty  of  confiscation  of  their  entire 
stock  in  trade,  they  contrive  to  introduce  ardent  spirits  amongst 
the  Indians,  which  is  dealt  out  somewhat  in  this  style.  A  whisky 
vender,  standing  upon  a  raised  platform  behind  his  groggery, 
lures  them  on,  one  by  one,  to  a  taste-of  his  "  vinegar,"  knowing  full 
well  that  the  unfortunate  savage,  when  he  has  once  tasted  of  it, 
can  no  longer  control  his  thus  excited  insatiable  appetite  for 
more.  The  vender  is  of  course  willing  to  "  accommodate  "  him 
for  the  trifling  sum  of  fifty  cents  a  gulp,  and  in  the  same  accom- 
modating spirit,  repeats  it  until  his  victim  from  a  savage  has 
become  a  brute.  One  of  the  traders  of  notorious  villainy  had 
succeeded  in  introducing  the  poison  into  the  camp,  the  con- 
sequences of  which  were  exceedingly  distressing  if  not  alarming. 
Some  of  the  men  became  infuriated,  destroying  their  own  lodges, 


374  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

to  the  great  terror  of  their  families,  whilst  others,  completely 
unnerved,  lay  down  to  whine  and  drivel.  The  first  care 
of  the  women,  on  such  occasions,  is  to  conceal  the  knives  and 
other  dangerous  weapons,  and  they  show  the  same  solicitude  that 
might  be  expected  from  a  Christian  wife. 

Within  what  is  called  the  Indian  territory,  the  introduction  of 
spirituous  liquor  is  prohibited ;  but  at  places  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  states,  the  federal  government  has  not  interfered,  and  can 
not;  so  that  at  Mackinaw,  Green  Bay,  and  the  Sault,  the  ex- 
cesses growing  out  of  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  are  very  great,  and 
the  women,  and  even  the  young  people,  are  likewise  maddened  by 
it.  The  post,  under  such  circumstances,  becomes  a  true  pandemo- 
nium. When  in  a  state  of  intoxication,  the  women  especially  give 
vent  to  their  sorrow  in  melancholy  chantings  and  a  profuse  flow 
of  tears ;  the  burden  of  their  songs  being  the  death  of  their  friends 
or  other  misfortunes.  One  who  listens  to  these  lamentations 
while  darkness  and  distance  interpose  to  conceal  the  too  often 
disgusting  objects  who  utter  them,  and  to  soften  down  and  mellow 
the  tone  of  high  pitched  voice;?,  will  often  find  something  affect- 
ing in  their  honest  and  unpremeditated  complaints.  Before  the 
whites  introduced  among  them  intoxicating  drinks,  it  is  probable 
that  assembling  together  for  feasts  was  their  principal  and  most 
favorite  source  of  excitement  in  times  of  peace,  and  comparative 
inactivity ;  for  they  are  exceedingly  fond  of  feasts,  of  which  they 
have  a  great  many,  and  at  all  of  which  they  gather  principally  to 
eat  and  smoke.  They  seem  to  have  a  peculiar  relish  for  the  meat 
of  dogs,  which  they  simply  boil  without  any  salt.  The  soup  is 
served  up  in  a  tin  pan,  from  which  each  one,  after  taking  a  long 
sup,  passes  it  to  his  next  neighbor,  and  then  falls  to  smoking. 
In  no  instance  were  they  heard  to  enliven  their  conviviality  by 
the  help  of  a  song. 

Although  the  Indians,  as  before  stated,  are  great  eaters,  yet 
they  enjoin  upon  young  and  unmarried  persons,  of  both  sexes, 
rigorous  and  long  continued  fasts,  that  are  begun  at  a  very  early 
age.  "  The  parent,"  says  Dr.  James,  in  Tanner's  Narrative,  "  in 
the  morning,  offers  the  child  the  usual  breakfast  in  one  hand  and 
charcoals  in  the  other :  if  the  latter  is  accepted,  the  parent  is 


A  FORTNIGHT  AMONG  THE  CHIPPEWAS.  375 

gratified,  and  some  commendations,  or  marks  of  favor,  are  be- 
stowed on  the  child.  To  be  able  to  continue  long  fasting  confers 
an  enviable  distinction.  They  therefore  inculcate  upon  their 
children  the  necessity  of  remaining  long  without  food.  Some- 
times the  children  fast  three,  five,  seven,  and  some,  as  is  said, 
even  ten  days ;  in  all  of  which  time  they  take  only  a  little  water? 
and  that  at  very  distant  intervals.  During  these  fasts  they  pay 
very  particular  attention  to  their  dreams,  and  from  the  character 
of  these  their  parents,  to  whom  they  relate  them,  form  an  opinion 
of  the  future  life  of  the  child.  Dreaming  of  things  above,  as 
birds,  clouds,  the  sky,  etc.,  is  considered  favorable;  and  when 
the  child  begins  to  relate  any  thing  of  this  kind,  the  parent  in- 
terrupts him,  saying :  '  It  is  well,  my  child  say  no  more  of  it.' 
In  these  dreams,  also,  the  children  receive  impressions  which 
continue  to  influence  their  character  through  life.  A  man,  an  old 
and  very  distinguished  warrior,  who  was  some  years  ago  at  Red 
river,  dreamed,  when  fasting  in  his  childhood.,  that  a  bat  came 
to  him,  and  this  little  animal  he  chose  for  his  medicine.  To  all 
the  costly  medicines  for  war  or  hunting,  used  by  other  Indians, 
he  paid  no  attention.  Throughout  his  life  he  wore  the  skin  of  a 
bat  tied  to  the  crown  of  his  head,  and  in  numerous  war  excur- 
sions he  went  into  battle  exulting  in  the  confidence  that  the 
Sioux,  who  could  not  hit  a  bat  on  the  wing,  would  never  be  able 
to  hit  him.  He  distinguished  himself  in  many  battles,  and  killed 
many  of  his  enemies,  but  throughout  his  long  life  no  bullet  ever 
touched  him,  all  of  which  he  attributed  to  the  protecting  in- 
fluence of  his  medicine,  revealed  to  him,  in  answer  to  his  fasting 
in  boyhood.  Of  Net-no-kwa,  his  foster  mother,  the  author  of  the 
foregoing  narrative  relates  that  at  about  twelve  years  of  age  she 
fasted  ten  successive  days.  In  her  dream  a  man  came  down  and 
stood  before  her,  and,  after  speaking  of  many  things,  he  gave 
her  two  sticks,  saying  :  '  I  give  you  these  to  walk  upon,  and  your 
hair  I  give  it  to  be  like  snow.'  In  all  her  subsequent  life  this 
excellent  woman  retained  the  confident  assurance  that  she  should 
live  to  extreme  old  age,  and  often  in  times  of  the  greatest  distress 
from  hunger,  and  of  apparent  danger  from  other  causes,  she 
cheered  her  family  by  the  assurance  that  it  was  given  to  her  to 


376  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

crawl  on  two  sticks,  mid  to  have  her  head  like  the  snow,  and 
roused  them  to  exertion  by  infusing  some  part  of  her  own  confi- 
dent reliance  upon  the  protection  of  a  superior  and  invisible 
power." 

Another  occasion  of  excitement  with  the  Indian  is  during  the 
dying  moments  of  one  of  the  family,  when,  having  satisfactorily 
proved  the  inefficacy  of  gushkibitagun,  or  medicine  bag,  they  have 
recourse  to  the  bivinahkeek,  or  medicine  drum.  The  entrance  to 
the  lodge  is  then  closed  up  with  a  black  bear  skin,  and  within 
its  vitiated  atmosphere  a  continuous  drumming  upon  a  tight 
skin  is  kept  up,  without  intermission,  for  hours,  accompanied  by 
a  monotonous  chant,  until  the  miserable  sufferer  is  distracted 
first,  and  then  literally  asphyxiated.  No  sooner  dead  than  he  is 
buried ;  or  rather  is  most  usually  laid  out  upon  the  surface  of  the 
ground  and  simply  protected  by  a  roof-shaped  covering.  Their 
wake  over  their  dead  takes  place  after  this  mode  of  burial,  and 
consists  in  the  lamentations  of  the  women  over  the  entombment 
for  the  rest  of  the  day.  This  is  what  they  are  observed  to  do 
when  thrown  in  the  midst  of  a  civilized  settlement ;  but  it  is 
probable  that  when  left  to  themselves  their  ceremonials,  on  such 
occasions,  may  be  very  different. 

There  is  something  impressive  and  affecting  in  their  habit  of 
preserving  the  jebi,  or  memorial  of  the  dead,  which  like  our  weeds 
and  crapes,  finds  a  place  in  many  a  dwelling  where  little  of 
mourning  is  visible.  Yet,  though  the  place  which  death  had 
made  vacant  in  their  hearts,  may  have  been  filled,  they  seem 
never  to  forget  the  supply  they  consider  due  the  wants  of  the  de- 
parted. "Whenever  they  eat  or  drink,  a  portion  is  carefully  set 
apart  for  the  jebi,  and  this  observance  continues  for  years,  should 
they  not,  in  the  meantime,  have  an  opportunity  to  send  out  this 
memorial  with  some  war  party ;  when,  if  it  be  thrown  down  on 
the  field  of  battle,  as  they  aim  always  to  do,  then  their  obligation 
to  the  departed  ceases. 

In  sickness,  the  Indian  is  very  desponding,  and  if  relief  be 
speedily  administered  to  him,  is  equally  grateful.  He  acknow- 
ledges services  thus  rendered  to  him,  in  manner  and  kind,  to  the 
utmost  of  his  abilities.  He  seems  to  have  fallen  heir  to  all  the 


A  FORTNIGHT  AMONG  THE  CHIPPEWAS.  377 

diseases  that  afflict  the  human  race,  and  is  not  known  to  have  any 
one  peculiar  to  his  condition.  In  their  own  original  and  genuine 
custom,  when  the  doctor  —  muskekiwainni,  literally  medicine 
man  —  is  called  in,  it  is  usual  to  present  him,  as  he  enters  the 
lodge  of  his  patient,  a  kettle  of  the  best  food  they  are  able  to  pro- 
cure, and  it  is  very  generally  the  case  that  the  medicine-man  com- 
mences his  treatment  by  assuring  his  patient  that  he  is  suffering 
from  the  malice  of  some  enemy.  He  may  possibly  go  still  further, 
and  not  satisfied  with  telling  his  patient  that  he  is  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  incantations  of  some  body,  will  name  some  person, 
either  his  own  or  his  patient's  enemy,  as  he  may  think  most  for 
his  interest.  In  other  words,  the  Indian  medicine  man  is  a  rank 
impostor  or  quack. 

After  the  distribution  of  the  fresh  blankets  and  new  clothing, 
the  Indian  encampment  assumes  a  gayer  aspect.  The  women 
turn  out  in  their  newly  acquired  finery,  displaying  all  the  co- 
quetry of  their  sex,  in  which  the  men  are  by  no  means  deficient, 
except  that  with  an  inherent  love,  as  it  were,  of  paint,  they  daub 
their  white  blankets  with  red,  blue  and  black  earths,  with  gro- 
tesque representations  of  all  sorts,  which  speedily  brings  them 
into  the  condition  of  dirty  clothes,  even  before  the  time  of  de- 
parture for  their  forest  homes. 

Taking  a  final  leave  of  the  Chippewas  a  few  reflections  may 
be  indulged,  as  respects  the  efforts  to  introduce  our  Christian 
civilization  among  them.  It  must  be  conceded,  in  the  first  place, 
that  the  Catholic  missionaries  have  been  most  successful.  And 
in  reference  to  missionary  labors,  generally,  among  the  Indians, 
it  has  been  justly  said  that  "  they  originate  as  well  in  a  diffusive 
and  amiable  benevolence  as  a  feeling  of  justice,  and  severe, 
though  tardy  compunction,  which  would  seek,  at  this  late  day, 
to  render  to  the  starved  and  shivering  remnant  of  the  people  who 
received  us  to  their  country  in  our  day  of  small  things,  some  re- 
compense for  the  fair  inheritance  which  we  have  wrested  from 
their  forefathers.  The  example  of  the  Cherokees,  and  some 
others  in  the  south,  has  been  sufficient  to  prove  that,  under  the 
influence  of  a  mild  climate  and  a  fertile  soil,  these  people  can  be 
taught  habits  of  settled,  if  not  persevering  industry.  From  this 


378  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

condition  of  things  we  can  already  see  how,  among  that  people, 
habits  of  enterprise  and  industry  are  to  spring  up,  and  we  look 
forward  with  confidence  to  a  source  of  continued  improvement. 
That  all  the  other  bands  and  tribes,  under  similar  auspices  and  simi- 
lar influences,  would  pursue  a  similar  course,  can  not  be  doubted. 
Philologists  and  speculative  theorists  may  divide  and  class  as 
they  please ;  to  the  patient  and  industrious  observer,  who  has 
mingled  intimately  with  this  race  in  the  low  and  fertile  districts 
of  the  Mississippi,  in  the  broad  and  smiling  plains  of  Arkansas 
and  the  Red  river,  in  the  forests  of  the  upper  Mississippi,  and 
among  the  pines  and  the  mosses  of  the  upper  lakes,  it  will  be 
evident  that  the  aboriginal  people  of  the  United  States  territory 
are  all  of  one  family,  not  by  physical  constitution  and  habit  only, 
but  by  the  structure  and  temperaments  of  their  minds ;  their 
modes  of  thinking  and  acting ;  and,  indeed,  in  all  physical  and 
mental  peculiarities  which  set  them  apart  from  the  remainder  of 
the  human  family  as  a  peculiar  people.  Whatever  coarse  has, 
in  one  situation,  proved  in  any  measure  effectual  to  reclaim  them 
from  their  vague  and  idle  habits,  will  certainly  succeed  in  another 
situation,  though  perhaps  more  slowly,  as  they  may  be  influenced 
by  a  less  genial  climate,  or  more  barren  soil.*'1 


1  Tanner's  Narrative. 


THE  JANE  Me  CREA  TEA  GED  Y.  1 
BY  WILLIAM  L.  STONE. 

Probably  no  event,  either  in  ancient  or  modern  warfare,  has 
received  so  many  versions  as  the  killing  of  Miss  Jane  McCrea 
during  the  Revolutionary  war.  It  has  been  commemorated  in 
story  and  in  song,  and  narrated  in  grave  histories,  in  as  many 
different  ways  as  there  have  been  writers  upon  the  subject.  As 
an  incident,  merely,  of  the  Revolution,  accuracy  in  its  relation 
is  not,  perhaps,  of  much  moment.  When  measured,  however, 
by  its  results,  it  at  once  assumes  an  importance  which  justifies 
such  an  investigation  as  shall  bring  out  the  truth  in  all  its  details. 
The  slaying  of  Miss  McCrea  was,  to  the  people  of  New  York, 
what  the  battle  of  Lexington  was  to  the  ISTew  England  colonies. 
In  each  case  the  effect  was  to  consolidate  the  inhabitants  more 
firmly  against  the  invader.  The  blood  of  the  unfortunate  girl 
was  not  shed  in  vain.  From  every  drop  hundreds  of  armed 
yeomen  arose  ;  and,  as  has  been  justly  said,  her  name  was  passed 
as  a  note  of  alarm  along  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  and,  as  a 
"  rallying  cry  among  the  Green  mountains  of  Vermont,  brought 
down  all  their  hardy  sons."  It  thus  contributed  to  Burgoyne's 
defeat,  which  became  a  precursor  and  principal  cause  of  national 
independence. 

The  story,  as  told  by  Bancroft,  Irving,  and  others,  is  that  as 
Jane  McCrea  was  on  her  way  from  Fort  Edward  to  meet  her 
lover  at  the  British  camp,  under  the  protection  of  two  Indians, 
a  quarrel  arose  between  the  latter  as  to  which  should  have  the 
promised  reward ;  when  one  of  them,  to  terminate  the  dispute, 
"  sunk,"  as  Mr.  Bancroft  says,  "  his  tomahawk  into  the  skull " 
of  their  unfortunate  charge. 

The  correct  version,  however,  of  the  Jane  McCrea  tragedy, 
gathered  from  the  statement  made  by  Mrs.  Mcl^eal  to  General 


1  Eeprinted  from  the  Galaxy  (New  York),  for  January,  1867,  with  supplementary  note,  written 
by  the  author  for  the  Indian  Miscellany. 


380  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Burgoyne,  on  the  28th  of  July,  1777,  in  the  marquee  of  her  cousin, 
General  Frazer,  and  corroborated  by  several  people  well  ac- 
quainted with  Jane  McCrea,  and  by  whom  it  was  related  to  Judge 
Hay,  of  Saratoga  Springs  —  a  veracious  and  industrious  his- 
torian —  and  taken  down  from  their  lips,  is  different  from  the 
version  given  by  Mr.  Bancroft. 

On  the  morning  of  the  27th  of  July,  1777,  Miss  McCrea  and 
Mrs.  McNeal  were  at  the  latter's  house  in  Fort  Edward,  preparing 
to  set  out  for  Fort  Miller  for  greater  security,  as  rumors  had 
been  rife  of  Indians  in  the. vicinity.  Their  action  was  the  result 
of  a  message  sent  to  them  early  that  morning  by  General  Arnold, 
who  had  at  the  same  time  despatched  to  their  assistance  Lieu- 
tenant Palmer  with  some  twenty  men,  with  orders  to  place  their 
furniture  on  board  a  bateau  and  row  the  family  down  to  Fort 
Miller.  Lieutenant  Palmer  having  been  informed  by  Mrs. 
McNeal  that  nearly  all  her  effects  had  already  been  put  on  the 
bateau,  remarked  that  he,  with  the  soldiers,  was  going  up  the 
hill  as  far  as  an  old  block-house,  for  the  purpose  of  reconnoitering, 
but  would  not  be  long  absent.  The  lieutenant  and  his  party, 
however,  not  returning,  Mrs.  MdSTeal  and  Jane  McCrea  concluded 
not  to  wait  longer,  but  to  ride  on  horseback  to  Colonel  McCrea's 
ferry,  leaving  the  further  lading  of  the  boat  in  charge  of  a  black 
servant.  When  the  horses,  however,  were  brought  up  to  the 
door,  it  was  found  that  one  side-saddle  was  missing,  and  a  boy1 
was  accordingly  despatched  to  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Gillis  for  the 
purpose  of  borrowing  a  side-saddle  or  pillion.  While  watching 
for  the  boy's  return  Mrs.  McNeal  heard  a  discharge  of  firearms,2 
and  looking  out  of  a  window,  saw  one  of  Lieutenant  Palmer's 
soldiers  running  along  the  military  road  toward  the  fort,  pursued 
by  several  Indians,  The  fugitive,  seeing  Mrs.  McNeal,  waved 
his  hat  as  a  signal  of  danger,  and  passed  on ;  which  the  Indians 
perceiving,  left  off*  the  pursuit  and  came  toward  the  house. 


1  His  name  was  Norman  Morrison .  It  is  not  known  with  certainty  what  became  of  him,  though 
tradition  states  that,  being  small  and  active,  he  escaped  from  the  savages  and  reached  his  house  in 
Hartford,  Washington  county,  N.  Y. 

8  So  fatal  was  this  discharge  that  out  of  Lieutenant  Palmer's  twenty  men,  only  eight  remained, 
Palmer  himself  being  killed  on  the  spot. 


THE  JANE  McCREA  TRAGEDY.  381 

Seeing  their  intention,  Mrs.  MoNeal  screamed,  "  Get  down  cellar 
for  your  lives!"  On  this,  Jane  McCrea  and  the  black  woman, 
Eve,  with  her  infant,  retreated  safely  to  the  cellar,  hut  Mrs. 
McNeal  was  caught  on  the  stairs  hy  the  Indians,  and  dragged 
back  by  the  hair  by  a  powerful  savage,  who  was  addressed  by 
his  companions  as  the  "  Wyandot  Panther."  A  search  in  the 
cellar  was  then  begun,  and  the  result  was  the  discovery  only  of 
Jane  McCrea,  who  was  brought  up  from  her  concealment,1  the 
Wyandot  exclaiming  upon  seeing  her,  "  My  squaw,  me  find  um 
agin  —  me  keep  um  fast  now,  forebe.r,  ugh!"  By  this  time  the 
soldiers  had  arrived  at  the  fort;  the  alarm  drum  was  beaten,  and 
a  party  of  soldiers  started  in  pursuit.  Alarmed  by  the  noise  of 
the  drum  —  which  they,  in  common  with  Mrs.  MdSTeal  and  Jenny, 
heard  —  the  Indians,  after  a  hurried  consultation,  hastily  lifted 
the  two  women  upon  the  horses  which  had  been  in  waiting  to 
carry  them  to  Colonel  McCrea's  ferry,  and  started  off  upon  the 
run.  Mrs.  McNeal,  however,  having  been  placed  upon  the  horse 
on  which  there  was  no  saddle,  slipped  off,  and  was  thereupon 
carried  in  the  arms  of  a  savage.  At  this  point  Mrs.  MoN"eal  lost 
sight  of  her  companion,  who,  to  use  the  language  of  Mrs.  McNeal, 
"  was  then  ahead  of  me,  and  appeared  to  be  firmly  seated  on  the 
saddle,  and  held  the  rein  while  several  Indians  seemed  to  guard 
her  —  the  Wyandot  still  ascending  the  hill  and  pulling  along  by 
bridle-bit  the  affrighted  horse  upon  which  poor  Jenny  rode." 
The  Indians,  however,  when  half  way  up  the  hill,  were  nearly 
overtaken  by  the  soldiers,  who,  at  this  point,  began  firing  by 
platoons.  At  every  discharge  the  Indians  would  fall  flat  with 
Mrs.  McISTeal.  By  the  time  the  top  of  the  Fort  Edward  hill  had 
been  gained,  notan  Indian  washarmed,'and  one  of  them  remarked 
to  Mrs.  McNeal :  "  Wagh  !  um  no  kill  —  um  shoot  too  much 
high  for  hit."  During  the  firing,  two  or  three  of  the  bullets  of 
the  pursuing  party  hit  Miss  McCrea  with  fatal  effect,  who,  falling 
from  her  horse,  had  her  scalp  torn  off  by  her  guide,  the  Wyandot 


1  Judge  Hay  was  informed  by  Adam,  after  he  became  a  man,  that  hia  mother,  Eve,  had  often  de- 
scribed to  him  how  she  continued  to  conceal  him  and  herself  in  an  ash-bin  beneath  a  fire-place  ;  he, 
luckily,  not  awaking  to  cry  while  the  search  was  going  on  around  them  in  the  cellar.  This  was 
also  confirmed  by  the  late  Mrs.  Judge  Cowen. 


382  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Panther,  in  revenge  for  the  loss  of  the  reward  given  by  Burgoyne 
for  any  white  prisoner  —  a  reward  considered  equal  to  a  barrel 
of  rum. 

Mrs.  McNeal,  however,  was  carried  to  Griffith's  house  and  there 
kept  by  the  Indians  until  the  next  day,  when  she  was  ransomed 
and  taken  to  the  British  camp.  "  I  never  saw  Jenny  afterward," 
says  Mrs.  McNeal,  "  nor  anything  that  appertained  to  her  person 
until  my  arrival  in  the  British  camp,  when  an  aide-de-camp 
showed  me  a  fresh  scalp-lock  which  I  could  not  mistake,  because 
the  hair  was  unusually  fine,  luxuriant,  lustrous,  and  dark  as  the 
wing  of  a  raven.  Till  that  evidence  of  her  death  was  exhibited 
I  hoped,  almost  against  hope,  that  poor  Jenny  had  been  either 
rescued  by  our  pursuers  (in  whose  army  her  brother,  Stephen 
McCrea,  was  a  surgeon),  or  brought  by  our  captors  to  some  part 
of  the  British  encampment."  While  at  Griffith's  house  Mrs. 
McNeal  endeavored  to  hire  an  Indian,  named  Captain  Tommo, 
to  go  back  and  search  for  her  companion,  but  neither  he  nor  any 
of  the  Indians  could  be  prevailed  upon  to  venture  even  as  far 
back  as  the  brow  of  the  Fort  Edward  hill  to  look  down  it  for 
the  white  squaw,  as  they  called  Jenny. 

The  remains  of  Miss  McCrea  were  gathered  up  by  those  who 
would  have  rescued  her,  and  buried  —  together  with  those  of 
Lieutenant  Palmer  —  under  the  supervision  of  Colonel  Morgan 
Lewis  (then  deputy  quartermaster-general),  on  the  bank  of  the 
creek,  three  miles  south  of  Fort  Edward,  and  two  miles  south  of 
her  brother's  —  John  McCrea's  —  farm,  which  was  across  the 
Hudson,  and  directly  opposite  the  principal  encampment  of 
General  Schuyler. 

The  only  statement  which,  while  disproving  Mr.  Bancroft's 
relation,  seems  to  conflict  with  the  above  account  of  the  manner 
of  her  death ,  is  the  one  made  by  Dr.  John  Bartlett,  a  surgeon 
in  the  American  army.  This  occurs  in  his  report  to  the  director- 
general  of  the  hospitals  of  the  northern  department,  dated  at 
Moses  creek  headquarters,  at  10  o'clock  of  the  night  of  July  27, 
1777,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"  I  have  this  moment  returned  from  Fort  Edward,  where  a  party  of 
hell-hounds,  in  conjunction  with  their  brethren,  the  British  troops,  fell 


THE  JANE  McCREA  TRAGEDY.  383 

upon  an  advanced  guard,  inhumanly  butchered,  scalped  and  stripped 
four  of  them,  wounded  two  more,  each  in  the  thigh,  and  four  more  are 
missing. 

"  Poor  Miss  Jenny  McCrea,  and  the  woman  with  whom  she  lived,  were 
taken  by  the  savages,  led  up  the  hill  to  where  there  was  a  body  of 
British  troops,  and  there  the  poor  girl  was  shot  to  death  in  cold  blood, 
scalped  and  left  on  the  ground  ;  and  the  other  woman  not  yet  found. 

"  The  alarm  came  to  camp  at  two  P.M.  I  was  at  dinner.  I  immedi- 
ately sent  off  to  collect  all  the  regular  surgeons,  in  order  to  take  some 
one  or  two  of  them  along  with  me  to  assist,  but  the  devil  of  a  bit  of 
one  was  to  be  found.  .  .  .  There  is  neither  amputating  instrument, 
crooked  needle  nor  tourniquet  in  all  the  camp.  I  have  a  handful  of 
lint  and  two  or  three  bandages,  and  that  is  all.  What  in  the  name  of 
wonder  I  am  to  do  in  case  of  an  attack,  God  only  knows.  Without 
assistance,  without  instruments,  without  everything." 

This  statement,  however,  was  made,  as  is  apparent  on  its  face, 
hurriedly,  and  under  great  excitement.  A  thousand  rumors 
were  flying  in  the  air  ;  and  there  had  been  no  time  in  which  to 
sift  out  the  kernels  of  truth  from  the  chaff.  But,  in  addition  to 
this,  the  story  of  the  surgeon  is  flatly  contradicted  by  testimony 
both  at  the  time  of  the  occurrence  and  afterward.  General  Bur- 
goyne's  famous  Bouquet  order  of  the  21st  of  May,  and  his  efforts, 
by  appealing  to  their  fears  and  love  of  gain,  to  prevent  any 
species  of  cruelty  on  the  part  of  his  savage  allies  —  facts  well 
known  to  his  officers  and  men  —  render  it  simply  impossible  to 
believe  the  statement  of  Surgeon  Bartlett,  that  a  "  body  of  Brit- 
ish troops"  stood  calmly  by  and  witnessed  the  murder  of  a  de- 
fenceless maiden  —  and  a  maiden,  too,  between  whom  and  one 
of  their  comrades  in  arms  there  was  known  to  be  a  betrothment. 
Leaving,  however,  probabilities,  we  have  the  entirely  different 
and  detailed  account  of  Jenny's  companion,  Mrs.  McNeal,  "  the 
woman  with  whom  she  lived,"  and  who,  as  "  the  woman  not  yet 
found,"  was  endeavoring  —  while  the  surgeon  was  penning  his 
account  —  to  prevail  upon  the  savages  to  go  back  and  search  for 
Jenny's  body,  left  behind  in  their  hurried  flight. 

The  whole  matter,  however,  seems  to  be  placed  beyond  all 
doubt,  not  only  by  the  corroborative  statement  of  the  Wyandot 
Panther,  when  brought  into  the  presence  of  Burgoyne — to  the 


384  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

effect  that  it  was  not  he,  but  the  enemy,  that  had  killed  her  — 
but  by  the  statement  of  General  Morgan  Lewis,  afterward  go- 
vernor of  New  York  state.  His  account  is  thus  given  by  Judge 
Hay  in  a  letter  to  the  writer : 

"  Several  years  after  Mrs.  Tearse  had  departed  this,  to  her,  eventful 
life,  I  conversed  (in  the  hearing  of  Mr.  David  Banks,  at  his  law-hook 
store  in  New  York),  with  Governor  Lewis.  Morgan  Lewis  then  stated 
his  distinct  recollection  that  there  were  three  gun-shot  wounds  upon 
Miss  McCrea's  corpse,  which,  on  the  day  of  her  death,  was,  by  direc- 
tion of  himself  —  and,  in  fact,  under  his  own  personal  supervision  — 
removed,  together  with  a  subaltern's  remains,  from  a  hill  near  Fort 
Edward  to  the  Three  Mile  creek,  where  they  were  interred.  The  fact 
of  the  bullet  wounds,  of  which  I  had  not  before  heard,  but  which  was 
consistent  with  Mrs.  Tearse's  statement,  was  to  me  '  confirmation 
strong  as  proof  from  Holy  Writ'  that  Jane  McCrea  had  not  been  killed 
exclusively  by  Indians,  who  could  have  done  that  deed  either  with  a 
tomahawk  or  scalping-knife,  and  would  not,  therefore,  be  likely  (pardon 
the  phrase  in  this  connection)  to  have  wasted  their  ammunition.  In 
that  opinion  Governor  Lewis,  an  experienced  jurist,  if  not  general, 
familiar  with  rules  of  evidence,  concurred." 

This  opinion  of  two  eminent  lawyers,  as  well  as  the  statement 
of  the  Wyandot,  receives,  moreover,  additional  confirmation  in 
the  fact  that  when  the  remains  of  Jane  McCrea,  a  few  years 
since,  were  disinterred  and  removed  to  the  old  Fort  Edward 
burial  ground,  and  consigned  to  Mrs.  McNeal's  grave,  Doctor 
William  S.  Norton,  a  respectable  and  very  intelligent  practitioner 
of  physic  and  surgery,  examined  her  skull,  and  found  no  marks 
whatever  of  a  cut  or  a  gash.1  This  fact,  also,  strongly  confirms 
the  opinion  expressed  at  the  time  by  General  Frazer,  at  the  post 
mortem  camp  investigation,  that  Jane  McCrea  was  accidentally, 
or  rather  unintentionally,  killed  by  American  troops  pursuing 
the  Indians,  and,  as  General  Frazer  said  he  had  often  witnessed, 
aiming  too  high,  when  the  mark  was  on  elevated  ground,  as  had 
occurred  at  Bunker's  (Breed's)  Hill. 

It  thus  appears,  first,  that  Jane  McCrea  was  accidentally  killed 


1  Mies  McCrea's  remains  have  recently  again  been  removed,  for  the  third  time,  to  a  new  Union 
Cemetery,  situated  about  half  way  between  Fort  Edward  and  Sandy  Hill.  A  large  slab  of  white 
marble  has  been  placed  over  the  spot  by  Miss  McCrea'a  niece,  Mrs.  Sarah  H.  Payne. 


THE  JANE  McCREA  TRAGEDY.  385 

by  the  Americans  ;  and,  secondly,  that  the  American  loyalist 
(David  Jones)  did  not  send  the  Indians,  much  less  the  ferocious 
Wyandot,  whom  he  abhorred  and  dreaded,  on  their  errand. 

Indeed,  the  falsity  of  this  latter  statement  (which,  by  the  way, 
General  Burgoyne  never  believed)  is  also  susceptible  of  proof. 
The  well-established  fact  that  Jones  had  sent  Robert  Ayers 
(father-in-law  of  Ransom  Cook,  Esq.,  now  residing  at  Saratoga 
Springs),  with  a  letter  to  Miss  McCrea  asking  her  to  visit  the 
British  encampment  and  accompany  its  commander-in-chief, 
with  his  lady  guests,  on  an  excursion  to  Lake  Q-eorge,  clearly 
shows  how  the  charge  against  Jones  had  crept  into  a  Whig  accu- 
sation concerning  supposed  misconduct  and  meanness  ;  and  the 
dialogue  (also  well  authenticated)  between  two  of  her  captors,  in 
relation  to  the  comparative  value  of  a  living  white  squaw  —  esti- 
mated at  a  barrel  of  rum  —  and  her  scalp-lock,  accounts,  perhaps, 
for  the  story  of  the  pretended  proffered  reward  (a  barrel  of  rum), 
alleged  to  have  caused  the  quarrel  among  the  Indians  which 
resulted  in  the  supposed  catastrophy.  All  who  had  been  ac- 
quainted with  David  Jones  knew  that  he  was  incapable  of  such 
conduct,  and  so  expressed  themselves  at  the  time. 

The  rumor,  also,  which  is  slightly  confirmed  in  Burgoyne's 
letter  to  Gates,  that  Miss  McCrea  was  on  her  way  to  an  appointed 
marriage  ceremony,  originated  in  Jones's  admission  that  he  had 
intended,  on  the  arrival  of  his  betrothed  at  Skeensborough 
(Whitehall)  to  solicit  her  consent  to  their  immediate  nuptials  — 
Chaplain  Brudenell  officiating.  But  Jones  explicitly  denied 
having  intimated  such  desire  in  his  letter  to  Miss  McCrea  or 
otherwise.  "  Such,"  he  added,  "  was,  without  reference  to  my 
own  sense  of  propriety,  my  dear  Janet's  sensibility,  that  the 
indelicacy  of  this  supposed  proposal  would,  even  under  our 
peculiar  circumstances,  have  thwarted  it."  Indeed,  this  question 
was  often  a  topic  of  conversation  between  General  Frazer  and 
Mrs.  McNeal,  who,  with  Miss  Hunter  (afterward  Mrs.  Tearse), 
accompanied  him  from  Saratoga  to  Stillwater,  and  on  his  decease 
returned  to  Fort  Edward  after  witnessing  the  surrender  of  the 
British  general.  Jones  frankly  admitted  to  his  friends,  that  in 
consequence  of  the  proximity  of  the  savages  to  Fort  Edward,  he 
26 


386  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

had  engaged  several  chiefs  who  had  heen  at  the  Bouquet  encamp- 
ment, to  keep  an  eye  upon  the  fiercer  Ottawas,  and  especially 
upon  the  fierce  Wyandot,  and  persuade  them  not  to  cross  the 
Hudson ;  but  if  they  could  not  be  deterred  from  so  doing  by 
intimations  of  danger  from  rebel  scouts,  his  employes  were  to 
watch  over  the  safety  of  his  mother's  residence,  and  also  that  of 
Colonel  McCrea.  For  all  which,  and  in  order  the  better  to  secure 
their  fidelity,  Jones  promised  a  suitable  but  unspecified  reward  — 
meaning  thereby  such  trinkets  and  weapons  as  were  fitted  for 
Indian  traffic,  and  usually  bestowed  upon  the  savages,  whether 
in  peace  or  war.1 

But  partisanship  was  then  extremely  bitter,  and  eagerly  seized 
the  opportunity  thus  presented  of  magnifying  a  slight  and  false 
rumor  into  a  veritable  fact,  which  was  used  most  successfully  in 
stirring  up  the  fires  of  hatred  against  loyalists  in  general,  and 
the  family  of  Jones  in  particular.  The  experiences,  of  the  last 
few  years  afford  fresh  illustrations  of  how  little  of  partisan 
asseveration  is  reliable ;  and  there  is  so  much  of  the  terrible  in 
civil  war  which  is  indisputably  true,  that  it  is  not  difficult,  nor 
does  it  require  habitual  credulity,  to  give  currency  to  falsehood. 
One  who  a  hundred  years  hence  should  write  a  history  of  the 
late  rebellion,  based  upon  the  thousand  rumors,  newspaper  cor- 
respondence, statements  of  radical  and  fierce  politicians  on  one 
or  another  side,  would  run  great  risk  of  making  serious  mis- 
statements.  The  more  private  documents  are  brought  to  light, 
the  more  clearly  they  reveal  a  similar,  though  even  more  intensi- 
fied, state  of  feeling  between  the  tories  and  the  whigs  during 
the  era  of  the  revolution.  Great  caution  should  therefore  be 
observed  when  incorporating  in  history  any  accounts,  as  facts, 
which  seem  to  have  been  the  result  of  personal  hatred  or  malice.2 


i  As  showing  how  improbable  exaggerations,  originating  in  rumor,  are  perpetuated  in  print, 
reference  is  made  to  a  book  in  the  State  Library  at  Albany,  entitled,  Travels  through  America,  in 
a  series  of  letters,  by  an  officer,  Thomas  Anbury,  1783. 

"NEW  YOEK,  Nov.  1, 1876.  —Before  dismissing  this  subject,  it  may  be  well  to  state  that  the  com- 
monly received  and  romantic  story,  that  Jones,  the  lover  of  Jane,  never  married,  but  died  broken- 
hearted, is  utterly  destitute  of  truth.  On  the  contrary,  he  married,  and  one  of  his  grandsons,  David 
Jones,  as  late  as  1855,  commenced  four  suits  in  the  supreme  court  of  New  York  state,  for  the 
recovery  of  the  lands  of  his  grandfather,  confiscated  by  the  state.  He  was  unsuccessful,  however ; 
or  failing  to  appear  at  the  trial,  judgement  was  rendered  against  him  for  costs  in  the  suits  on  the 
31st  of  October  1856.  Vide,  the  files  of  the  Sandy  Hitt  (N.  Y.)  Herald,  for  1874  and  '75. 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  STANDING  ROCK  A  GENC  Y.  1 
BY  DANIEL  LEASURE,  M.D, 

On  the  morning  of  the  24th  of  July,  1875,  I  went  on  hoard  of 
the  steamer  Josephine  at  Bismarck,  bound  for  Standing  Rock, 
one  of  the  largest  and  most  important  of  the  Indian  agencies  on 
the  Upper  Missouri.  Standing  Rock  is  below  Bismarck,  about 
sixty  miles  overland,  but  more  than  double  that  distance  by 
water.  Our  trip  down  was  pleasant  indeed.  In  the  afternoon 
we  passed  Fort  Rice,  the  point  from  which  the  Stanley-Ouster 
expedition  of  two  years  ago  started  out.  Fort  Rice  is  an  infantry 
post,  though  sometimes  a  company  of  cavalry  is  stationed  there 
for  a  short  time  to  look  after  marauding  bands  of  roving  Sioux. 
We  stopped  at  the  fort  and  I  visited  the  commandant,  an  old 
army  acquaintance,  and  an  hour  later  left  for  Standing  Rock. 

After  dark  the  steamer  lay  up  for  the  night  at  a  woodyard  on 
the  eastern  shore,  and  the  woodman  came  on  board  for  late 
papers  and  news  from  the  inside  world.  He  was  a  rather  well 
informed  and  intelligent  man  who  had  lived  in  that  secluded 
spot  for  many  years.  He  was  a  "  squaw  man,"  which  is  the  name 
given  to  a  white  man  who  marries  or  cohabits  with  a  squaw. 
His  last  wife  before  the  one  he  has  now  was  a  Sioux,  and  they 
had  two  children,  but  one  day,  not  long  since,  a  band  of  Rees 
came  along  and  killed  and  scalped  her.  On  being  asked  if  he 
did  not  feel  her  loss  very  much,  he  replied  :  "  Of  course  I  did ; 
it  cost  me  twenty  good  dollars  to  get  another." 

Next  morning  (Sunday)  we  arrived  at  the  agency,  and  in  com- 
pany with  a  friend  from  Bismarck,  I  stopped  off  to  await  the 
return  of  the  boat  from  below.  I  had  imagined  that  the  name 
Standing  Rock  was  derived  from  some  immense  rock  on  the 
river  shore,  or  some  overhanging  cliff  constituting  the  main  fea- 
ture of  the  spot,  and  on  inquiry,  I  was  informed  that  the  rock 
was  some  distance  inland.  Major  Burke,  the  agent,  was  absent, 


1  Reprinted  from  the  Pittsburgh  (Pa.)  Evening  Chronicle,  for  August  21,  22, 1876,  revised  by  the 
author  for  the  Indian  Miscellany. 


388  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

but  his  son  very  kindly  took  us  in  an  open  spring  wagon,  through 
the  various  villages  of  the  Indians,  up  to  the  lodge  of  Two  Bears, 
head  chief  of  the  Yanktonnais,  about  four  miles  from  the  agency 
buildings.  On  our  way  up  he  stopped  and  told  us  that  there  was 
the  Standing  Rock.  It  was  a  little  boulder  about  twenty-eight 
inches  in  height,  by  fifteen  inches  at  the  base,  and  eight  inches 
at  the  top,  and  was  painted  over  in  various  colors,  and  surrounded 
by  pieces  of  gay  colored  ribbons,  bead  work  and  the  ears  and 
tails  of  small  animals,  and  other  tokens,  indicating  that  the  In- 
dian women  looked  upon  it  as  sacred,  and  came  "  to  make 
medicine,"  in  their  domestic  troubles,  or  in  "  white  man's  talk," 
to  offer  sacrifice. 

The  story  or  myth  of  Standing  Rock  is  quite  as  respectable  as 
many  another  found  in  the  traditions  of  savage  or  semi-barbarian 
people.  It  is  to  the  effect  that  "  once  upon  a  time,"  a  young 
Arickaree  woman,  wife  of  a  great  brave,  and  who  loved  him 
dearly,  was  so  mortified  and  spirit  broken  because  her  husband 
took  a  second  wife,  that  she  went  out  on  the  prairie  and  sat  down 
and  neither  ate  nor  drank  till  she  died,  and  the  Great  Spirit 
turned  her  into  that  standing  stone.  To  this  day,  the  women  of 
a  hostile  tribe,  the  Sioux,  who  now  occupy  the  country,  hold  it 
as  a  sacred  thing,  and  offer  to  it  their  sacrifices  to  propitiate  it, 
and  secure  its  good  ofiices  for  them  in  their  no  doubt  sufficiently 
frequent  little  domestic  difficulties.  A  man  of  ordinary  strength 
could  carry  the  stone  away,  but  no  one  has  ever  molested  it,  and 
it  remains  a  pillar  of  rock  to  mark  the  credulity  of  a  simple  and 
superstitious  people. 

On  arriving  at  Two  Bears  village  we  found  that  he  had  gone 
to  a  sacrificial  dance  to  the  God  of  evil,  at  the  village  of  the 
Blackfeet  Sioux.  His  wives,  four  in  number,  all  sisters  (a  fifth 
sister  a  wife  also,  being  dead),  were  at  home.  His  favorite 
daughter  received  us  in  state  within  her  father's  lodge,  which  is 
a  double  log  cabin  with  sod  roof  and  earthen  floor.  She  was 
dressed  in  gay  calico  as  plainly  cut  as  an  ordinary  working 
woman's  dress,  with  her  hair  carefully  braided  in  two  long  plaits, 
and  ornamented  with  narrow  red  ribbons  hanging  down  behind 
her  shoulders,  her  feet  encased  in  very  beautifully  ornamented 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  STANDING  ROCK  AGENCY.          389 

moccasins,  and  her  face  and  the  skin  of  the  scalp,  at  the  partings 
of  her  hair,  painted  vermillion.  She  was  seated  in  state  upon  a 
buffalo  robe,  laid  over  a  lounge  bed,  or  divan,  made  of  some 
empty  candle  boxes,  with  her  hands  folded  in  her  lap,  or  playing 
with  her  ear  ornaments,  which  consisted  of  a  kind  of  shell  called 
Iroquois,  worked  into  a  band  about  ten  inches  long  by  one  inch 
at  the  part  next  the  ear,  and  two  inches  at  the  most  dependent 
part.  This  form  of  ear  ornament  is  very  much  affected  by  both 
sexes,  old  Two  Bears  himself  sporting  an  enormous  length  and 
breadth,  so  that  they  fall  clear  down  over  his  breast.  After 
talking  awhile,  through  an  interpreter,  we  found  she  wanted  to 
marry  a  white  man,  who  would  be  rich  enough  to  support  her  in 
the  style  to  which  she  has  been  accustomed,  for  she  alone,  of  all 
her  father's  family,  is  relieved  from  the  curse  of  squawdom  — 
hard  labor. 

After  the  sacrifice  at  the  Blackfeet  village  was  over,  Two  Bears 
returned  my  call  and  invited  me  to  call  again,  which  I  did,  but 
the  account  of  which  I  postpone  for  a  description  of  the  ceremony 
at  the  sacrifice  to  the  G-od  of  evil,  or  Indian  devil.  This  sacrifice 
is  similar  in  its  nature  and  objects  to  those  offered  by  many 
savage  tribes  of  men  in  all  ages  and  all  countries.  The  gods  of 
nearly  all  primitive  men  are  demons  who  delight  in  afflicting 
mankind,  and  are  all  supposed  to  be  blood  drinkers,  and  to  be 
appeased  by  sacrifices  of  either  men  or  animals,  or,  they  are  to 
be  frightened  or  over-awed  by  self  torture  on  the  part  of  men,  to 
convince  them  that  no  amount  of  injury  or  maiming  can  give 
them  pain.  Thus,  they  torture  themselves  and  make  no  sign  of 
distress  in  order  to  convince  the  demon  that  it  is  not  worth  his 
while  to  fool  away  his  time  tormenting  them,  for  don't  he  see  for 
himself,  that  they  are  insensible  to  pain,  therefore  he  may  spare 
himself  unnecessary  trouble  in  the  vain  effort  to  hurt  them. 
With  this  explanation,  the  philosophy  of  that  Sunday  sacrifice  at 
Standing  Rock  will  be  self-evident.  A  dog  is  killed  by  torture, 
and  divided  into  four  parts,  which  are  put  into  four  kettles  and 
set  on  the  fire  till  boiled  tender,  or  till  he  is  supposed  to  be  as 
tender  as  a  dog  ought  to  be.  A  young  squaw  as  near  as  possible 
to  womanhood,  but  not  quite  a  woman,  supposed  to  represent 


390  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

chastity,  then  strips  herself  entirely  nude,  and  to  the  sound  of  a 
low  chant  by  her  associates,  and  vigorous  heating  on  a  drum  or 
tom-tom,  performs  a  peculiar  dance  with  a  sidelong  motion 
around  the  fire,  on  which  are  the  kettles  containing  the  pieces 
of  dog,  and  all  the  time  muttering  some  incantation.  At  a  signal 
the  young  braves  or  old  ones  either,  who  wish  to  take  part  in  the 
ceremony,  in  turn  step  up  to  one  of  the  kettles,  and,  reaching  in 
his  bare  hand  and  arm,  takes  out  a  piece  of  boiling  meat,  tears 
off  a  mouthful  himself  and  swallows  it,  and  passes  it  to  his  next 
neighbor,  who  must  take  it  and  eat  of  it  in  the  same  way,  and  so 
on  they  keep  taking  out  the  scalding  mess  and  eating  it  till  the 
skin  of  hands,  lips  and  mouth  hang  loose  in  whitened  shreds,  and 
all  this  time  no  sign  of  pain  or  discomfort  finds  an  expression  on 
any  face,  and  the  seething  morsels  are  slowly  masticated  and 
deliberately  swallowed  with  a  composure  absolutely  diabolical, 
and  the  miserable  dupes  feel  themselves  the  better  for  it. 

The  sun  dance  is  another  sacrificial  rite  of  torture,  and  is  a 
form  of  sun  worship  in  which  that  luminary  is  supposed  to  be  a 
demon  and  highly  pleased  with  the  self-inflicted  pains  of  his 
worshipers,  and  in  return  he  gives  them  strong  hearts  to  over- 
come their  enemies,  or  bear  with  indifference  the  penalties  of 
captivity.  The  young  braves  are  admitted  at  once  into  the 
councils  of  the  tribe  after  undergoing  the  terrible  tortures  of 
these  ceremonies  which  are  too  horrible  to  bear  description,  and 
are  falling  into  disrepute  in  proportion  as  the  various  bands  of 
the  wild  tribes  come  under  the  influence  of  white  men  of  the 
better  sort. 

There  are  three  large  bands  of  the  Sioux  at  the  Standing  Rock 
agency,  namely,  the  Yanktonnais,  the  Uncpapas  and  Blackfeet, 
numbering  in  all  about  eight  to  ten  thousand,  of  all  ages.  The 
chief  of  the  Yanktonnais,  the  noted  Two  Bears,  is  one  of  the 
most  intelligent  and  fair  men  to  be  found  among  Indians.  He 
is  naturally  a  courteous  gentleman,  though  but  a  few  years  ago 
he  was  a  very  "  bad  Injun,"  till  General  Sully  defeated  him  and 
his  band,  and  taught  him  the  folly  of  contending  against  the 
mighty  arm  of  the  great  father.  Since  that  time  he  has  been  a 
peace  man,  and  all  his  dealings  with  the  whites  have  been  honora- 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  STANDING  ROCK  AGENCY.          391 

ble,  though  sometimes  he  has  had  sore  provocation.  But  more 
of  him  hereafter.  The  other  sub-chiefs  of  his  band  at  the  agency 
are  Big  Head,  Black  Eyes  and  Wolfs  Necklace.  The  chiefs  of 
the  Uncpapas  are  Bear's  Ribs,  Running  Antelope,  Iron  Horn, 
Thunder  Hawk,  and  Belly  Fat. 

I  had  much  talk,  through  an  interpreter,  with  Running  Ante- 
lope, who  is  constitutionally  a  blatherskite,  and  likes,  above  all 
things,  to  "  shoot  his  mouth,"  as  "  talk  making"  is  called  on  the 
border.  He  is  now  getting  rather  too  old  and  fat  to  run  very 
fast,  but  he  has  long  been  the  mercury  of  the  tribes,  and  has 
been  admitted  into  the  lodges  of  hostile  bands  as  a  messenger, 
when  no  other  would  dare  venture  into  their  power.  His  cos- 
tume when  he  called  on  me  was,  in  addition  to  the  breech  clout 
and  leggins,  a  summer  blanket  made  of  four  flour  sacks,  colored 
by  prairie  dust,  worn  negligently  over  his  shoulders,  and  where 
the  sweat  struck  through,  seemed  spotted  with  grease.  At  one 
time,  a  few  years  ago,  he  wanted  the  steamboatmen  to  pay  his 
people  for  the  use  of  the  water  to  float  their  boats,  and  on  being 
pressed  for  a  reason,  said,  "  they  were  wearing  out  the  river/' 
but  he  has  gotten  bravely  over  that  now  since  he  is  an  agency 
Indian,  and  gets  his  subsistence  brought  by  the  boats.  He  is  a 
very  shiftless  individual  and  always  wanting  something.  The 
principal  chief  of  the  Blackfeet  band  is  Kill  Eagle,  and  the  next 
most  noted  is  John  Grass,  whose  Indian  name  signifies  "  the  man 
who  stops  the  bear."  His  wife  is  a  half  breed,  and  I  believe  it 
was  at  her  desire  that  he  accepted  the  white  man's  name  of  John 
Grass.  I  met  all  these  chiefs  and  many  of  their  soldiers  or 
braves  at  the  various  villages  or  at  the  lodge  of  Two  Bears. 

"While  at  Standing  Rock  some  of  the  officers  of  the  military 
post  and  attaches  of  the  agency  proposed  that  I  should  witness  a 
"  squaw  dance."  So  about  ten  o'clock  at  night  they  loaded  two 
barrels  of  hard  tack,  several  boxes  of  raisins,  a  large  box  of  can- 
dies, some  webs  of  flashy  calico  and  divers  and  sundry  trinkets 
into  a  wagon,  and  we  started  for  the  village  of  Two  Bears.  The 
interpreter  had  gone  before  and  given  an  intimation  to  the  chief, 
who  had  sent  out  to  the  other  villages  for  a  reinforcement  of 
young  squaws.  When  we  arrived,  at  midnight,  they  were  all 


392  THK  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

assembled  to  the  number  of  about  one  hundred  in  their  highest 
state  of  ornamentation  of  paint  and  feathers,  though  it  is  but  fair 
to  say  that  they  were  all  modestly  and  becomingly  dressed  in 
plain  calico  dresses;  many  of  them  wearing  over  all,  a  dark 
blanket  ornamented  with  large  bands  of  handsome  parti-colored 
beadwork.  Though  none  of  them  were  handsome,  they  all  looked 
well,  were  neat  and  tidy  and  behaved  with  much  decorum. 

On  our  arrival  the  stores  were  taken  out  of  the  wagon  and 
placed  in  Two  Bears'  lodge,  and  John  Dillon,  the  agency  farmer 
and  contractor,  himself  a  "  squaw  man,"  was  master  of  cere- 
monies, and  introduced  me  to  the  assembled  chiefs  as  a  big 
war  chief  and  strong  medicine  man,  a  combination  that  strikes 
the  Indian  as  something  above  the  ordinary.  Two  Bears  re- 
quested us  all  to  be  seated,  my  Bismarck  friend  and  myself  in 
the  middle  of  the  circle,  and  lighting  his  great  pipe,  he  took  a 
whiff  and  passed  it  to  the  "  next  gentleman,"  and  after  a  whiff  or 
two  he  handed  it  to  the  next,  until  it  passed  around  and  was 
refilled  and  passed  again,  all  the  while  conversation  going  on ; 
Dillon  acting  as  interpreter.  After  our  smoke  a  few  strokes  on 
the  great  drum  called  all  hands  to  the  council  house  which 
stood  near  at  hand.  It  was  a  circular  building  of  cotton  wood 
logs,  set  perpendicularly,  close  to  each  other,  and  extending 
above  the  ground  to  a  height  of  six  feet,  and  covered  with  pun- 
cheons and  sods,  leaving  an  opening  in  the  center  for  the  escape 
of  the  smoke  from  the  council  fire.  All  the  "  bucks"  (which  is 
the  term  by  which  young  male  Indians  are  designated  until  they 
reach  the  honors  of  braveship)  were  excluded,  and  the  soldiers 
of  Two  Bears  formed  a  cordon  of  guards  around  the  house  to 
preserve  order,  permitting  only  the  white  men,  the  young  squaws, 
with  a  few  of  the  wives  of  the  chiefs  and  the  chiefs  themselves, 
of  whom  there  were  about  a  dozen,  to  enter.  The  squaws  and 
the  white  men  formed  a  circle  around  the  lodge ;  there  being 
barely  room  enough  for  them  all  to  get  in.  The  great  drum, 
composed  of  a  hoop  like  an  ordinary  bass  drum,  with  raw-hide 
heads,  was  swung-  on  four  forked  sticks  driven  into  the  ground. 
Around  the  drum  were  squatted  all  the  chiefs,  each  armed  with  a 
big  drumstick,  except  Two  Bears,  who  brought  in  an  old  candle 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  STANDING  ROCK  AGENCY.         393 

box,  and  placing  it  beside  the  "  band  "  seated  me  upon  it,  with 
my  friend  on  my  left  and  Two  Bears  on  my  right.  At  a  signal 
the  music  burst  forth,  and  such  music !  The  chiefs  chanted  a 
song  in  a  minor  key  at  first,  accompanying  it  by  beating  very 
good  time  on  the  drum.  Presently  the  dancers  started  off  in 
their  part  of  the  performance.  Contrary  to  the  commonly  re- 
ceived idea  of  savage  dances,  there  was  no  leaping  or  capering. 
Indeed  the  feet  were  not  raised  from  the  ground  at  all,  but  by 
alternate  raising  upon  the  toes  and  sinking  upon  the  heel,  with 
a  queer  dip  at  the  knees  and  a  side  movement  to  the  left  so  as  to 
cause  the  whole  circle  to  move  around  from  right  to  left,  they 
kept  time  to  the  music  with  great  accuracy.  The  effect  was 
most  unique,  and  not  by  any  means  ungraceful. 

As  the  dance  went  on,  Two  Bears  got  excited,  and  leaving  my 
side  on  the  candle  box,  squatted  beside  the  drum,  and  seiz- 
ing one  of  the  sticks,  gave  a  tremendous  yell,  and  brought  down 
his  stick  as  though  he  was  going  to,  as  Dillon  said,  knock  —  out 
of  it.  Then  raising  the  song  into  a  higher  key  he  infused  new 
ardor  into  the  dancers.  One  of  his  daughters,  the  princess,  sprung 
out  of  the  circle,  and  seizing  my  friend,  pulled  him  off  the  candle 
box  and  into  the  ring,  where  he  did  some  of  the  most  astonishing 
things  in  the  way  of  dancing  to  the  great  gratification  of  his 
dusky  partner  and  her  admiring  friends.  Momentarily  I  expected 
to  be  served  in  the  same  manner,  but  I  suppose  politeness 
and  etiquette  forbade,  and  I  was  unmolested. 

It  was  a  July  night,  and  for  want  of  a  thermometer,  we  could 
only  estimate  the  heat  of  that  lodge  by  its  effect  upon  the  paint 
on  the  faces  of  the  dancers  and  musicians,  and  it  was  determined 
to  adjourn  the  dance  to  the  outside.  Soon  a  great  fire  was 
kindled,  my  candle  box  was  installed  alongside,  the  ring  was 
again  formed,  and  the  word  was,  "  on  with  the  dance."  But  I 
now  perceived  that  some  of  the  white  men  had  something  in 
their  souls  more  inspiring  than  music.  Knowing  that  all  were 
armed,  and  the  bucks  were  jealous,  I  thought  I  had  seen  enough 
of  the  performance,  and  my  friend  and  I  retired  with  Two  Bears 
into  his  lodge,  where,  after  another  smoke  all  around,  we  bade 
good  bye  to  our  host,  and  quietly  stole  away  to  our  quarters  at 


394  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

the  agency  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  rest  of  our  party 
however,  kept  up  the  dance  till  sunrise,  when  the  presents  were 
distributed  by  Two  Bears,  and  thus  ended  the  squaw  dance. 

During  my  stay  at  Standing  Rock,  I  had  ample  opportunities 
for  observing  the  operations  of  the  subsistence  plan  of  pacifying 
the  Indians  and  helping  them  toward  civilization.  A  large  por- 
tion of  the  adult  males  and  able-bodied  squaws  were  out  on  the 
annual  antelope  hunt,  but  daily  coming  and  returning  they  ex- 
hibited a  fair  average  of  the  whole  population.  They  destroyed 
thousands  of  antelopes ;  Bear's  Ribs  having  killed  nine  hundred 
himself,  but  very  little  of  the  meat  was  saved,  those  beautiful 
animals  being  mercilessly  slaughtered  for  their  skins,  which  are 
not  worth  more  than  an  ordinary  sheepskin.  The  killing  taking 
place  in  July,  with  the  mercury  at  more  than  a  hundred  degrees 
upon  the  blazing  prairie,  the  preservation  of  the  flesh  could  not 
be  attempted,  save  as  the  squaws  cut  portions  of -it  into  slips  and 
"jerked"  it  in  the  sunshine.  Later  in  the  season  the  skins  would 
be  worth  more,  and  the  flesh,  which  is  delicious,  could  have  been 
cured  for  winter  use. 

I  visited  the  farm  and  gardens  where  white  laborers  had 
ploughed  the  ground  and  planted  the  crops,  and  depended  upon 
the  Indians  to  tend  and  keep  them  clean ;  but  alas  for  the  atten- 
tion. The  ground  was  smothered  in  weeds,  and  the  poor  crops 
were  struggling  against  fearful  odds,  and  yet,  such  was  the  fer- 
tility of  the  soil  and  the  favors  of  the  climate,  that  they  would 
yield  what  in  the  east  would  be  deemed  a  fair,  average  crop.  The 
truth  is,  work  is  disgraceful,  and  no  Indian  of  spirit  would  lower 
himself  in  the  eyes  of  the  squaws,  for  no  squaw  would  respect  a 
man  who  worked  with  his  hands. 

Standing  Rock  is  a  Sioux  agency  under  charge  of  the  Catholic 
church,  and  is,  I  think,  as  faithfully  administered  as  is  possible 
under  the  circumstances.  The  bands  on  the  agency  are  no  doubt 
of  the  better  class  of  the  large  tribe  or  tribes  designated  Sioux. 
They  do  not  call  themselves  Sioux,  but  Dakota,,  which  means 
friends,  and  the  other  tribes,  with  whom  they  are  always  in  a 
state  of  chronic  unpleasantness,  call  them  Sioux,  which  is  a  cor- 
ruption of  a  French-Indian  word  meaning  enemies,  or  cut- 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  STANDING  ROCK  AGENCY.          395 

throats.  They  are  no  doubt  a  fair  specimen  of  the  best 
development  of  the  Indians  of  the  plains,  who  have  made  the  first 
step  towards  civilization  in  acknowledging  the  right  of  private 
property.  The  men  are  rather  above  the  average  Indian  in  de- 
velopment and  prowess,  and  the  women  are  from  necessity  chaste. 
I  say  chaste  from  necessity,  for  although  there  are  instances  of 
unchastity,  they  are  rare,  because  its  punishment  is  terrible.  If 
an  Indian  maiden  of  the  Dakota  tribe  permits  herself  to  receive 
unchaste  advances  from  one  of  the  bucks,  he  straightway  boasts 
of  it,  and  thinks  it  a  merit  to  do  so,  in  order  that  she  may  be 
"  passed  upon  the  prairie,"  which  is  equivalent  to  abandoning 
her  to  the  unbidden  lust  of  every  man  who  meets  her ;  and  she 
can  claim  no  protection.  If  she  did,  none  would  be  given  her, 
and  the  fear  of  hell  has  not  more  terror  for  civilized  female 
sinners  than  the  certainty  of  exposure  and  its  swift  penalty  have 
upon  their  uncivilized  sisters. 


AMONG  THE  GUATUSOS;  A  NARRATIVE  OF  ADVEN- 
TURE AND  DISCO  VERT  IN  CENTRAL  AMERICA. ' 

BY  O.  J.  PARKER. 

[There  are  a  few  aboriginal  or  Indian  tribes  or  families,  scattered  at  intervals  over  the  continent 
who,  from  their  inaccessible  position  and  other  circumstances,  have  succeeded  in  maintain'ng  an 
entire  isolation  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  whose  characters  and  habits  are  unknown,  although 
probably  little  altered  from  what  they  were  at  the  time  of  the  discovery.  An  interesting  example 
is  afforded  by  the  Guatnsos,  an  Indian  tribe  occupying  the  basin  of  the  Rio  Frio,  a  considerable 
stream  rising  in  the  mountains  of  Costa  Rica,  and  running  northward  into  Lake  Nicaragua,  which 
it  reaches  at  very  nearly  the  point  of  debouchure  of  the  Rio  San  Juan.  Many  attempts  were  made 
by  the  Spanish  missionaries  and  others  toward  the  close  of  the  last  century  to  penetrate  into  this 
region,  but  they  all  failed  through  the  firm  and  unappeasable  hostility  of  the  Indians.  An  attempt 
was  made  by  the  Costa  Ricans,  during  the  war  against  Walker,  in  1856,  to  send  a  body  of  troops 
down  the  Rio  Frio,  to  surprise  the  fort  of  San  Carlos,  near  its  mouth,  but  they  were  met  by  the 
Guatusos  and  driven  back.  As  might  be  expected  the  most  extravagant  stories  prevail  in  Central 
America  concerning  these  unknown  and  bellicose  Indians.  They  are  reported  to  be  nearly  white, 
with  red  hair,  and  to  be  as  cruel  as  warlike.  But  these  stories  have  recently  been  set  at  rest,  and 
the  secrets  of  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Frio  exposed  by  Captain  Parker,  who  for  several  years  was  engaged 
on  the  steamers  of  the  Nicaragua  Transit  Company,  plying  on  the  river  San  Juan  and  Lake  Nica- 
ragua .  He  undertook  to  ascend  the  river  in  1867,  in  a  canoe,  and  penetrated  to  the  head  of  canoe 
navigation.  We  subjoin  his  simple  and  unadorned  narrative  of  the  expedition,  which  is  now  pub- 
lished for  the  first  time.] 

My  curiosity  to  penetrate  into  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Frio, 
explore  its  course  and  learn  its  capacities,  as  well  as  something 
of  the  strange  people  called  the  Guatusos,  who  live^on  its  hanks, 
was  early  greatly  excited  by  the  numberless  stories  I  had  heard 
concerning  the  Indians  and  their  country,  and  I  had  not  been 
long  in  Nicaragua  before  I  resolved  on  the  adventure.  I,  how- 
ever, sought  for  companions  in  vain  ;  everybody  denounced  the 
enterprise  as  hazardous  and  foolhardy  in  the  extreme.  Some 
years  of  service  with  the  Texan  Rangers,  and  my  experience  in 
river  navigation,  led  me  to  think  otherwise,  and  after  a  year  or 
two  of  effort,  I  succeeded  in  raising  a  canoe  party,  consisting  of 
three  Europeans,  named  A.  C.  Roberts  and  Jose  Pe'lang,  Franco- 
Californians,  and  C.  Debbon,  a  German,  long  resident  in  Louisi- 
ana, to  accompany  me ;  all  good  canoemen  and  experienced 
shots.  Of  course  we"  were  well  and  heavily  armed,  and  moreover 
furnished  for  a  three  months'  journey.  My  canoe  was  of  the 


1  Reprinted  from  Frank  Leslie's  Illustrated  Newspaper  (New  York)  for  January  25, 1868. 


AMONG  THE  GUATUSOS.  397 

ordinary  kind  in  use  upon  the  coast,  twenty-two  feet  long,  of  a 
single  cedar  log,  light  and  strong,  capable  of  making  six  knots 
an  hour  with  ease  to  three  paddles,  and  drawing  twelve  inches 
of  water  with  my  party  aboard. 

Commencing  our  journey  from  San  Juan  del  Norte,  on  arriv- 
ing at  Fort  San  Carlos,  we  were  quite  as  agreeably  as  unex- 
pectedly joined  by  Captain  Hart,  of  the  Transit  Company's 
steamer,  Granada,  and  two  other  Americans,  William  Hanger 
and  "William  Godden,  who  offered  to  accompany  us  part  of  the 
distance  on  a  hunting  trip,  game  being  very  abundant  near  the 
mouth  of  the  river.  They  brought  a  light  double-oared  boat 
with  them. 

Leaving  Fort  San  Carlos  at  four  o'clock  A.M.,  August  8th,  we 
reached  a  plantain  patch  eight  miles  up  the  river,  belonging  to 
the  fort,  at  sunrise.  So  far,  the  banks  and  adjacent  country 
were  low  and  swampy.  By  climbing  trees  on  the  river  side  we 
were  able  to  see  numerous  lagoons  connected  by  channels  with 
each  other,  and  with  the  river.  This  being  the  height  of  the 
rainy  season,  many  of  these  lagoons  were  deep  lakes,  miles  in 
extent,  around  which  the  picturesque  coyol  palm  and  gamalota 
were  fringed  in  the  solitary  but  beautiful  landscape,  as  far  as  the 
eye  could  reach,  with  here  and  there  small  clumps  of  larger 
timber  pleasantly  relieving  the  uniformity.  The  river  itself  at 
the  mouth,  and  for  many  hundred  yards  into  the  lake,  is  much 
obstructed  by  sand  banks  and  the  alluvial  deposit  of  the  river,  but 
there  is  a  good  though  narrow  channel  to  the  westward,  carrying 
four  feet  of  water.  A  short  distance  from  its  mouth  the  stream 
becomes  and  continues  of  an  average  width  of  one  hundred  yards ; 
depth  five  feet,  with  a  current  in  general  of  one  and  a  half  miles 
per  hour.  The  temperature  of  the  water  is  at  least  ten  degrees 
lower  than  that  of  the  lake  ;  it  also  is  clearer,  and  of  a  bluish 
color.  Game  began  to  be  very  plentiful,  particularly  turkeys, 
ducks  and  water  birds,  and  on  the  banks,  deer,  guari  (wild-hog), 
and  many  varieties  of  the  monkey-tribe.  As  we  ascended  the 
mouths  of  the  creeks  we  frequently  came  across  the  remains  of 
old  fish-traps,  and  fish  of  many  varieties  were  observed,  especially 
the  guapote,  which  is  a  fine-flavored,  speckled  fish,  averaging  five 
pounds  in  weight. 


398  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

At  four  in  the  afternoon  we  reached  a  number  of  bends  in  the 
channel,  and  selecting  a  point  in  the  left  bank  which  we  named 
Godden's  bend,  went  ashore  and  built  a  camp,  covering  a 
frame  of  poles  with  swallowtail  grass,  known  in  the  country  as 
sweety,  which  began  to  be  abundant.  We  adhered  to  a  plan 
during  the  trip,  which  was  put  in  practice  the  first  night,  to  secure 
us  from  any  surprise  or  .attack,  namely,  that  of  building  a  large 
camp  fire  at  fifty  feet  distance  from  our  shelter,  and  stationing  a 
guard  thirty  feet  in  an  opposite  direction,  near  whom  the  end  of 
a  long  canoe  line  was  made  fast.  Sand-flies  and  musquitos  were 
numerous,  but,  having  a  large  muslin  bar,  we  slept  soundly  until 
daylight,  having  traveled  thirty-five  miles  of  deep  water  free  from 
obstructions. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  second  day  we  discovered  Indian 
signs,  but  not  recent ;  and  at  nine  A.M.  entered  Blue  lake  by 
a  short,  deep  channel  from  the  left  bank.  We  did  not  cross  it, 
but  estimated  its  diameter  at  ten  miles.  It  is  fed  by  the  river, 
through  a  channel  at  its  south-eastern  extremity,  but  two-thirds 
of  the  water  thus  received  is  discharged  by  a  channel  at  the 
western  side,  which,  possibly,  is  the  Rio  Negro,  falling  into  Lake 
Nicaragua  eighteen  miles  west  of  San  Carlos. 

Resuming  our  ascent  of  the  river,  we  observed  high  banks  of 
red  clay,  larger  and  greater  varieties  of  timber,  and  a  luxurious 
vegetation.  About  three  P.M.  we  were  much  amused  in  passing 
an  immense  drove  of  large  red  monkeys  (ringtails).  They  ap- 
peared for  a  while  determined  to  ascend  the  river  in  our  company, 
swinging  along  the  highest  branches  with  an  indescribable 
amount  of  chattering  and  grimacing.  Our  lowest  estimate 
numbered  them  at  fifteen  hundred.  We  camped  at  4.30  P.M.  on 
the  right  bank,  distant  from  last  camp  twenty  miles.  At  9.30 
P.M.  heard  Indians,  and  making  a  careful  examination,  could 
smell  fire  ;  however,  passed  the  night  undisturbed. 

The  third  day  we  continued  our  course  at  daybreak.  At  nine 
A.M.  arrived  at  the  first  obstruction  in  the  river.  This  consisted 
in  the  accidental  fall  of  an  immense  Balsa  tree  across  the  river, 
and  through  which  we  were  compelled  to  cut  a  passage  with  axes. 
Close  by  the  bank  was  tied  a  small  raft,  upon  which  had  been  a 


AMONG  THE  GUATUSOS.  399 

fire  burning  recently,  and  a  quantity  of  freshly-cut  plantains. 
Jumping  ashore  with  Roberts,  we  struck  into  a  well-worn  path 
up  the  stream  (in  some  places  nearly  a  foot  deep),  but  finding  the 
trail  cold,  we  returned  to  our  party  after  an  hour's  absence. 

At  two  P.M.  saw  another  raft,  upon  which  two  Indians  .were 
cooking  plantains.  They  jumped  ashore  immediately  on  perceiv- 
ing us,  taking  with  them  their  arms  (bows  and  spears),  and 
uttering  the  loudest  cries.  "We  hastened  to  follow  them,  but, 
encumbered  and  cramped  as  we  were,  no  wonder  without  success. 
We  had  brought  several  articles  of  great  value  in  Indian  eyes  to 
barter  or  give  away.  I  had  also  a  gay  old  uniform,  which  I  was 
anxious  to  give  to  the  chief,  if  we  could  only  eiFect  communica- 
tions with  the  tribe.  It  was  pretty  evident  that  they  possessed 
neither  firearms  nor  cutlery — indeed,  during  our  trip  we  saw  no 
metal  of  any  kind,  manufactured  or  unmanufactured,  in  their 
possession.  Their  arrow-heads  and  axes  are  made  of  coyol  (a 
hard  black  palm)  and  stone ;  their  cooking  and  other  utensils,  of 
coarse  red  clay  ware,  similar  to  that  used  by  the  Indians  of  the 
lake,  while  the  breech-cloth,  which  is  their  only  covering,  is  sim- 
ply a  piece  of  ule  (india-rubber)  or  mahagua  bark,  beaten  into  a 
kind  of  felt  upon  a  smooth  stone. 

The  trail  upon  the  left  bank  is  much  better  than  the  one  upon 
the  right  bank  of  the  river ;  the  latter  is  perhaps  solely  used  for 
hunting,  or  in  passing  along  to  the  fishing-weirs,  etc.  We  care- 
fully selected  our  camping-ground,  about  four  P.M.,  upon  the  left 
bank,  on  a  high  point,  round  which  the  river  winds  in  a  sudden 
curve,  having  made,  by  our  estimate,  twenty-five  miles  since 
morning. 

Starting  at  daylight  on  the  fourth  day,  we  began  to  observe 
signs  of  cultivation,  and  after  a  while  perceived  on  both  sides  of 
the  river  fair  quantities  of  plantain,  cassava,  kilisky,  papays,  maize 
and  cacao,  the  last  remarkable  fine,  and  the  trees,  from  their 
great  size,  evidently  old.  At  nine  A.M.  passed  the  entrance  of  a 
large  sheet  of  water,  Parker  lake,  which,  however,  we  did  not 
stop  to  explore,  and  an  hour  afterward  came  unexpectedly 
upon  another  Indian,  who  gave  us  a  better  opportunity  of  ex- 
amining him,  and  I  may  as  well  take  this  opportunity  of  de- 


400  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

scribing  his  appearance,  and  the  characteristics  of  the  tribe  we 
encountered,  so  far  as  we  could  ascertain  them.  I  can  do  so 
concisely,  by  stating  that  a  Guatuso  Indian,  to  the  eye,  in  all 
respects,  resembles  a  Comanche ;  but  to  those  who  may  never 
have  had  the  misfortune  to  meet  this  gentle  specimen  of  human- 
ity, I  will  add  that  in  stature  they  average  six  feet,  and  in  weight 
two  hundred  pounds,  the  females  likewise  being  of  large  size. 
They  are  of  a  clear  copper  color,  untainted,  apparently,  by  ad- 
mixture with  either  white  or  negro  blood,  and  are  perfect  models 
of  strength  and  muscular  development.  Their  faces  are  some- 
what broader,  with  higher  cheek-bones  than  the  Lake  Indians, 
with  coarse  but  not  generally  unpleasant  features,  whilst  the 
long,  straight  black  hair  is  allowed  to  fall  around  the  body  in 
both  sexes  until  it  sometimes  trails  on  the  ground.  They  were 
apparently  without  ornament,  or  rather  disfigurement  of  any  kind ; 
and  altogether,  the  appearance  of  us  to  the  Guatusos  fully  jus- 
tified the  appellation  of  Wild  Indians,  in  the  strictest  sense  of 
the  term,  as  applied  by  the  natives  of  the  country,  who  are,  never- 
theless, not  a  whit  further  advanced  in  the  arts  of  horiculture, 
road-making,  or  in  social  progress  than  these  Guatusos,  and 
physically  they  are  much  inferior. 

We  arrived  at  a  small  island  in  the  river  at  11  A.M.  (Hart's 
island) ;  good  channel/along  right  bank.  Constantly  passed  old 
rafts  and  deserted  shanties,  the  latter  being  covered  with  waha 
leaf  only,  which  is  very  perishable,  and  hence  one  would  infer 
that  the  Guatusos  villages  are  not  located  on  the  river;  these 
buildings  being  merely  used  as  occasion  requires  for  visiting  the 
plantations,  collecting  game,  etc.,  and  that  the  people  perma- 
nently reside  upon  the  slopes  of  the  mountains,  where  they  are 
not  molested  by  musquitos  and  other  troublesome  insects,  and 
where  the  position  would  be  more  open  and  agreeable. 

From  11  A.M.  to  4.30  P.M.  passed  great  numbers  of  India-rubber 
trees  on  both  banks,  a  belt  fifteen  miles  long,  and  from  one 
hundred  to  eight  hundred  yards  wide.  The  most  experienced 
rubber  men  of  our  party  had  never  seen  such  an  immense 
grove  before.  Several  creeks  likewise,  which  fell  into  the  river 
on  both  banks,  contained  scarcely  any  other  timber.  The  river 


AMONG  THE  GUATUSOS.  401 

here  is  less  tortuous.  We  camped  at  4.30  P.M.  on  the  left  bank, 
opposite  Muddy  creek,  which  some  of  the  party  declared 
contained  more  rubber  than  the  river  itself.  We  also  saw  seve- 
ral varieties  of  cedar  of  fine  growth,  and  some  mahogany.  Esti- 
mated distance  this  day,  thirty-five  miles. 

Finding  plenty  of  fresh  signs  around  our  camp,  I  made  the 
most  of  our  position,  which  was  naturally  a  good  one,  by  cutting 
paths  from  it  up  and  down  the  stream  from  camp,  and  remem- 
bering old  times  in  Texas,  I  drove  half  a  dozen  stakes  into  the 
ground  around  the  fire,  upon  which  were  hung  the  wet  clothes 
of  the  party  so  as  to  somewhat  resemble  sitting  figures.  The 
guard  was  stationed  near  the  point  where  the  canoe  was  moored 
under  a  large  chilimata  tree.  In  the  middle  of  the  night  I  heard 
Indians  down  the  stream,  and  rousing  Roberts,  heard  them  pass- 
ing behind  our  camp,  and  soon  afterward  a  slight  crackling  in 
the  brands  near  the  fire  satisfied  us  of  their  immediate  presence. 
Without  disturbing  the  balance  of  the  party,  we  lay  waiting  for 
"  what  would  turn  up,"  and  shortly  afterward  an  arrow  flew 
with  great  force  amongst  the  decoy  stakes,  striking  one  obliquely, 
and  then  glancing  to  the  ground,  where  it  firmly  planted  itself. 
Firing  a  couple  of  shots  in  the  direction  from  which  the  arrow 
came,  we  heard  no  more  of  our  visitors,  and  slept  unmolested 
the  rest  of  the  night. 

In  reconnoitering  the  vicinity  in  the  morning  of  the  fifth  day, 
we  found  a  spot  not  half  a  mile  up  the  river,  where  at  least  forty 
Indians  had  camped  during  the  night.  Fires  were  burning,  and 
there  were  plentiful  supplies  of  plaintains  in  every  stage  of  ripe- 
ness ready  for  the  morning's  meal.  We  went  ashore  to  examine 
the  place,  and  tapped  an  immense  India-rubber  tree.  At  eight 
o'clock  Captain  Hart  and  his  companions  parted  from  us  to  join 
the  steamer  on  the  San  Juan  river. 

Resuming  our  upward  course  alone  at  about  9.30  A.M.,  we 
reached  the  forks  of  the  river  and  the  head  of  steam  naviga- 
tion. At  the  mouth  of  the  eastern  fork,  which  appeared  rapid, 
rocky  and  unnavigable,  is  a  small  island  which  would  be  of  use 
as  the  site  of  the  pioneer  fort  or  depot.  We  therefore  entered 
the  western  branch  and  with  considerable  labor  ascended  the 
27 


402  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

channel,  which  is  full  of  rocks,  trees,  bars  and  shoals,  a  distance 
of  twelve  miles,  when  we  arrived  at  a  broad  gravel  reach,  about 
five  hundred  yards  wide  and  nearly  dry,  over  which  it  was  im- 
possible to  pass  the  canoe,  and  referring  to  my  log,  found  the 
distance  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  to  this  point  one  hundred 
and  thirty-five  miles.  Leaving  the  canoe,  we  proceeded  a  short 
distance  up  the  channel,  and  sunk  a  hole  on  a  bar  in  a  favorable 
looking  position  for  gold,  but  without  finding  a  "  color."  How- 
ever, while  walking  about  the  bars  and  adjacent  banks,  I  picked 
up  a  piece  of  bluish  quartz,  which  was  subsequently  assayed,  and 
yielded  very  rich  returns  of  both  gold  and  silver. 

The  Marivalles  mountains  cross  the  head  of  this  branch  nearly 
at  right  angles,  and  at  apparently  a  distance  of  two  or  three  miles 
only.  Their  uniformity  and  general  appearance  would,  however, 
lead  one  to  suppose  it  next  to  impossible  to  find  through  them  a 
pass  for  a  practical  road  to  the  valley  beyond.  Toward  the  east, 
and  most  likely  following  the  canon  of  the  eastern  fork  for  many 
miles,  is  a  great  depression  in  the  range,  which  would  indicate 
this  as  the  easiest,  as  it  is  the  most  direct  route  for  a  road  of 
communication  between  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande  de  Costa 
Rica  and  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  Rio  Frio. 

We  cut  marks  upon  several  soto-cavalho  trees  with  machetes, 
on  the  right  bank,  and  commenced  our  return  trip  at  three 
P.M.  Between  this  point  and  the  forks  we  saw  in  our  ascent 
many  groups  of  shanties,  sometimes  numbering  a  dozen  together; 
but  they  were  quickly  vacated  at  our  approach.  Fires  were  left 
burning,  and  we  saw  the  recent  track  of  children's  feet,  heard 
dogs  barking,  and  a  great  deal  of  noise  made  by  the  Indians  in 
their  flight.  About  four  P.M.,  we  came  quietly  within  twenty-five 
feet  of  three  Indians  on  a  log  at  the  riverside,  shooting  fish  with 
arrows.  Contemplating  us  for  an  instant  with  the  most  per- 
plexed and  curious  air  imaginable,  they  suddenly  raised  a  great 
yell,  and  scrambled  up  the  high  bank  with  the  most  surprising 
agility.  They,  like  all  the  rest,  ran  into  the  forest,  screaming 
at  the  top  of  their  voices. 

Repassing  the  forks,  we  shortly  after  saw  a  man  and  woman 
landing  from  rafts  tied  to  the  right  bank.     On  examination  the 


AMONG  THE  GUATUSOS.  403 

ground  showed  unmistakable  signs  of  at  least  three  hundred 
persons  having  crossed  quite  recently  from  the  left  bank.  Run- 
ing  the  canoe  as  quickly  as  possible  alongside,  we  strenuously 
endeavored  by  words  and  signs  to  induce  a  parley.  They  were 
each  armed  with  bows  and  spears,  and  "  retreated  in  good  order  " 
to  a  plantain  patch,  making  several  stands  meantime,  as  if  to 
show  us  that  fear  had  less  to  do  with  their  movements  than 
policy  —  and  soon  afterward  commenced  the  usual  yelling  and 
screaming,  which  we  unanimously  agreed  could  not  be  outdone 
by  any  other  tribe  on  earth. 

Two  miles  below,  and  whilst  regretting  the  futility  of  our 
efforts  at  communication  with  the  Indians,  we  approached  unob- 
served a  raft  tied  to  the  right  bank,  upon  which  was  seated  an 
Indian  busily  engaged  in  plucking  the  feathers  from  a  speckled 
bittern  nearly  the  size  of  a  turkey,  which  he  had  just  shot  with 
his  bow,  which  lay  beside  him  on  the  raft.  When  within  a  few 
feet  of  him,  he  first  sq,w  us,  and  instantly  seizing  his  arms,  ran 
ashore  apparently  in  the  greatest  fury.  He  immediately  fitted 
an  arrow  to  his  bow,  but  appeared  to  disapprove  of  it,  changing 
it  rapidly  for  another,  we  in  the  meantime  by  every  means  in 
our  power  endeavoring  to  arrest  his  movements  and  attract  his 
attention,  calling  to  him  in  the  various  Indian  dialects  with  which 
we  were  acquainted  —  Spanish,  French,  and  English  —  without 
any  avail.  Continuing  his  preparations  amid  the  wildest  cries 
and  gestures,  he  at  length  drew  the  arrow  full  upon  me  as  I  sat 
in  the  stern  of  the  canoe,  and  at  the  same  moment  dropped  dead 
by  a  shot  from  our  party.  I  very  much  regretted  this  unfortunate 
result,  which  I  did  my  utmost  to  avert,  strictly  enjoining  no  shot 
to  be  fired  in  any  event,  unless  we  were  surrounded  by  numbers, 
and  I  was  willing  to  take  the  chance  of  the  arrow-shot  in  hopes 
of  securing  the  Indian  afterward.  He  was  about  thirty  years  of 
age,  fully  six  feet  high,  and  of  large,  robust  limbs.  He  had  a 
large  head,  covered  with  hair  reaching  below  the  hips,  which, 
combined  with  a  savage  expression  of  face,  rendered  his  appear- 
ance and  gestures  somewhat  more  ferocious  than  fascinating. 

After  this  unfortunate  occurrence,  we  continued  our  descent 
of  the  river  in  heavy  rain  the  whole  night  without  stopping, 


404  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

passing  Camp  No.  2  about  one  A.M.,  and  arriving  at  Fort  San 
Carlos  soon  after  daylight,  or  about  fifteen  hours  after  commenc- 
ing our  return.  Captain  Hart  and  party  had  arrived  the  previous 
night  in  safety.  Allowing  two  miles  per  hour  for  the  current, 
as  the  rain  had  raised  the  creeks  considerably,  and  an  average 
speed  of  six  miles  for  the  canoe,  we  have  as  the  length  of  the 
river  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles,  of  which  distance  one 
hundred  and  eight  are  capable  of  steamer  navigation. 


THE  REV.  JOHN  ELIOT,  AND  HIS  INDIAN  CON- 


BY  REV.  MARTIN  MOORE. 

No  portion  of  history  is  more  worthy  of  the  careful  study  of 
the  descendants  of  the  Pilgrims,  than  that  which  relates  to  the 
life  and  character  of  the  fathers  of  New  England.  We  cannot 
indeed  boast  of  a  long  line  of  illustrious  ancestors,  who  have  been 
distinguished  by  titles  of  nobility,  or  who  figured  in  the  days  of 
chivalry.  Our  ancestors  had  a  nobility,  which  many  of  the  titled 
gentlemen  of  Europe  never  possessed.  It  was  the  nobility  of 
high  intellectual  attainments,  of  stern  integrity,  and  devoted 
piety.  They  were  men  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy. 
One  of  their  own  number,  in  the  quaint  language  of  those  days, 
has  given  their  true  character.  "  God,"  said  he,  "  sifted  thre  3 
kingdoms,  that  he  might  send  over  choice  grain  into  this  wilder- 
ness." The  Pilgrims  came  to  these  shores  to  establish  a  church 
on  the  primitive  foundation.  Such  men  were  Robinson,  Carver, 
Bradford,  Brewster  and  Winslow,  the  leaders  of  the  Plymouth 
colony.  Of  the  same  spirit  were  Endicott,  Higginson,  and  Skel- 
ton,  who  founded  a  plantation  at  Naumkeage,  afterward  called 
Salem,  the  town  of  peace.  Winthrop,  Cotton  and  Wilson,  the 
leaders  of  the  company  that  settled  around  Massachusetts  bay, 
were  men  of  the  same  cast.  Davenport,  of  New  Haven,  Hooker 
and  Stone  of  Hartford,  partook  largely  of  the  same  spirit.  Men, 
who  were  so  deeply  embued  with  the  spirit  of  Christ,  could  not 
be  contented  to  see  the  Christian  religion  confined  to  their  own 
infant  settlements.  The  spirit  of  devoted  Christianity  has,  in 
every  age,  been  the  spirit  of  missions.  They  looked  upon  the 
poor  savages  by  whom  they  were  surrounded,  with  compassion. 
They  viewed  them,  as  among  that  number  whom  Christ  had  died 
to  redeem,  and  to  whom  he  had  commanded  them  to  preach 
the  gospel.  Their  sense  of  duty  did  not  permit  them  to  remain 


1  Reprinted  from  The  American  Quarterly  Register  (Boston)  for  February,  1843. 


406  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

inactive.  The  Mayhews,  on  Martha's  Vineyard,  and  Bourne,  of 
Plymouth  colony,  labored  successfully  among  these  untutored 
sons  of  the  forest. 

But  the  most  laborious  and  successful  missionary  to  the  Indians 
in  the  early  days  of  New  England,  was  the  Rev.  John  Eliot,  the 
first  minister  of  Roxbury.  He  is  commonly  styled  the  apostle 
of  the  North  American  Indians.  Mr.  Eliot  was  born  at  E"asin, 
Essex  county,  England,  in  1604.  He  received  a  strictly  religious 
education,  such  as  the  Puritans  uniformly  gave  their  children. 
He  was  in  after  life  grateful  to  his  parents  for  their  care  of  his 
education.  They  trained  him  up  in  the  way  in  which  he  should 
go,  and  when  he  was  old,  he  did  not  depart  therefrom.  "  I  do 
see,"  said  he,  "  that  it  was  a  great  favor  of  God, that  my  early 
years  were  seasoned  with  the  fear  of  God,  the  word,  and  prayer." 
After  he  left  the  university,  he  was  engaged  for  several  years  in 
the  instruction  of  youth.  During  this  period,  he  sat  under  the 
ministry  of  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  who  afterwards  founded  Hart- 
ford, in  Connecticut.  Hooker  exerted  a  salutary  influence  in  the 
formation  of  his  character.  He  came  over  to  America  in  1631, 
and  was  settled  at  Roxbury  in  1632.  The  church  in  Boston  was 
desirous  to  secure  his  services ;  but  he  had  engaged  himself  to 
the  company  that  came  over  with  him,  who  formed  the  settlement 
at  Roxbury.  A  young  lady  to  whom  he  was  pledged  before  he 
left  England,  came  over  the  following  year,  and  became  his  wife. 
He  did  not  enter  upon  his  missionary  work  until  he  had  been 
located  a  number  of  years,  at  Roxbury. 

Eliot  commenced  the  'study  of  the  Indian  language,  when  he 
was  forty-two  years  old.  It  was  an  unwritten  language,  attended 
with  great  and  peculiar  difficulties.  One  word,  for  example,  was 
expressed  by  thirty-two,  and  another  by  forty-three  letters.  He 
took  a  young  Indian  into  his  family,  and  by  constant  conversa- 
tion, acquired  the  words,  one  by  one,  so  that  he  reduced  this 
spoken  to  a  written  language.  At  the  close  of  his  Indian  gram- 
mar, he  wrote  the  following  sentence :  "  Prayers  and  pains 
through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  will  do  any  thing."  He  was 
greatly  encouraged  in  his  work  by  the  neighboring  ministers. 
They  often  supplied  his  pulpit  while  he  was  absent  preaching 


THE  REV.  JOHN  ELIOT  AND  HIS  INDIAN  CONVERTS.     407 

among  the  natives.  The  Indians  among  whom  Eliot  labored,  had 
a  general  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  great  spirit,  who  created  all 
things.  They  had  also  some  vague  traditions  respecting  the 
primitive  state  of  man,  the  flood,  etc.  Their  powows,  or  priests, 
had  an  entire  control  over  them.  If  they  were  sick,  they  resorted 
to  the  powow  to  drive  away  the  disease.  They  supposed  that 
he,  by  performing  certain  incantations,  could  remove  diseases, 
or  deprive  an  individual  of  life.  The  first  formal  interview  that 
Eliot  had  with  the  Indians,  was  at  dorian  turn,  in  'the  east  part 
of  ISTewton.  The  folio  wing  is  a  partial  account  of  this  interview, 
in  his  own  words: 

"  A  little  before  we  came  to  the  wigwam,  five  or  six  of  the  chief 
men  of  them  met  us  with  English  salutations,  bidding  us  much  wel- 
come. Leading  us  into  the  principal  wigwam  belonging  to  Waban, 
we  found  many  men,  women  and  children,  gathered  together  from  all 
quarters,  having  been  exported  thereto  by  Waban,  their  chief  minister 
of  justice  among  them  ;  who  himself  gave  more  hope  of  serious  respect 
of  the  things  of  God,  than  any  I  have  yet  known  of  that  forlorn  gene- 
ration. Being  all  there  assembled,  we  began  with  prayer,  which  was 
now  in  English,  we  being  not  so  acquainted  with  the  Indian  language, 
as  to  express  our  hearts  therein  before  God,  or  them.  When  prayer 
was  ended,  it  was  an  affecting,  yet  glorious  spectacle,  to  see  a  company 
of  perishing,  forlorn  outcasts,  diligently  attending  to  the  words  of 
salvation  then  delivered,  and  professing  that  they  understood  all  that 
had  been  taught  them  in  their  own  tongue.  For  about  an  hour  and  a 
quarter  the  sermon  was  continued  ;  wherein  one  of  our  company  ran 
through  all  the  principal  matters  of  religion  ;  beginning  first  with  the 
repetition  of  the  commandments,  and  the  brief  explication  of  them  ; 
then  showing  the  curse  and  dreadful  wrath  of  God  against  all  who 
break  them,  or  the  least  of  them  ;  and  so  applying  the  whole  unto  the 
Indians  then  present,  with  much  affection.  He  then  preached  Jesus 
Christ  unto  them  as  the  only  means  of  recovery  from  sin,  wrath,  and 
eternal  death  ;  he  explained  unto  them  who  Christ  was,  and  whither 
he  is  gone,  and  how  he  will,  one  day,  come  to  judge  the  world.  He 
spake  to  them  of  the  blessed  state  of  all  those  who  believe  in  Jesus 
Christ  and  know  him  feelingly  ;  and  he  spake  to  them  also,  observing 
his  own  method,  as  he  was  most  fit  to  edify  them,  concerning  the  crea- 
tion and  fall  of  man  —  the  greatness  of  God  —  the  joys  of  heaven  and 
the  horrors  of  hell,  and  then  urging  them  to  repentance  for  every  known 


408  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

sin  wherein  they  live.  On  many  things  of  the  like  nature  he  discoursed  ; 
not  meddling  with  matters  more  difficult,  until  they  had  tasted  more 
familiar  and  plainer  truths.  Having  thus  in  a  set  discourse  familiarly 
opened  the  principal  matters  of  salvation  to  them,  we  next  proposed 
certain  questions  to  see  what  they  would  say  to  them,  so  that  we  by  a 
variety  of  means,  instructed  them  in  things  of  religion." 

Eliot  sought  to  civilize  as  well  as  to  Christianize  the  Indians. 
He  had  no  hope  of  permanently  benefiting  them,  unless  they 
had  settled  habitations.  Without  this  state  of  things,  they  could 
not  be  brought  steadily  under  the  influence  of  divine  truth.  He 
selected  a  tract  of  land  in  the  east  part  of  Newton,  and  called  it 
Nonantum,  which  in  their  tongue  signified  rejoicing.  This 
and  other  similar  settlements  that  were  afterwards  formed,  were 
denominated  praying  toivns.  The  settlement  at  Nonantum  was 
begun  in  1646.  It  was  removed  to  N"atick  in  1651.  Eliot  formed 
fourteen  praying  towns  in  Massachusetts.  Natick  still  retains 
its  original  name.  JSTashobah  is  now  called  Littleton ;  Punkapag, 
Stoughton  ;  Massanamissit,  Grafton ;  Okommakamessit,  Marl- 
borough  ;  Wamixit,  Tewksbury ;  Magunkaquog,  Hopkinton ; 
Manchage,  Oxford ;  Chabanakocumwomum,  Dudley ;  Manexit, 
north  part  of  Woodstock ;  Quintisset,  south  part  of  Woodstock  ; 
Wabquisset,  south-east  part  of  Woodstock. 

Philip's  war  produced  a  disastrous  effect  upon  these  praying 
towns.  He  formed  a  confederacy  among  the  natives  for  the  pur- 
pose of  exterminating  the  English.  He  used  every  possible  art 
to  draw  the  praying  Indians  into  this  league.  The  English  on 
the  other  hand  feared  that  they  would  turn  traitors.  The  pray- 
ing Indians  stood  between  two  fires.  Both  parties  needed  their 
assistance,  and  neither  of  them  dared  trust  them.  The  number 
of  praying  Indians  was  about  3,000.  The  whole  number  of 
English  was  about  20,000.  Philip's  confederacy  probably  num- 
bered less.  It  was  quite  an  object  with  both  parties,  who  were 
nearly  balanced,  to  secure  the  praying  Indians.  The  English 
were  so  fearful  of  them  that  at  the  commencement  of  the  contest 
they  dared  not  take  them  to  the  war.  The  general  court  finally 
removed  them  to  Deer  island  in  Boston  harbor.  In  December, 
1675,  Gen.  Gookin  and  Mr.  Eliot  visited  them.  "  I  observed  in 


THE  REV.  JOHN  ELIOT  AND  HIS  INDIAN  CONVERTS.     409 

all  my  visit  to  them,"  says  Gookin,  "  that  they  carried  themselves 
patiently,  humbly  and  piously,  without  murmuring  or  complain- 
ing against  the  English  for  their  sufferings  (which  were  not  few), 
for  they  chiefly  lived  upon  clams  and  shell  fish,  that  they  digged 
out  of  the  sand  at  low  water.  The  island  was  bleak  and  cold; 
their  wigwams  were  poor  and  mean ;  their  clothes  few  and  thin. 
Some  little  corn  they  had  of  their  own,  which  the  court  ordered 
to  be  fetched  from  their  plantations,  and  conveyed  to  them  by 
little  and  little  ;  also  a  boat  and  man  was  appointed  to  look  after 
them.  I  may  say  in  the  words  of  truth  that  there  appeared  much 
of  practical  Christianity  in  this  time  of  their  trial."  One  of  their 
number  thus  bewailed  his  condition  to  Mr.  Eliot :  "  Oh  sir," 
said  he,  "  I  am  greatly  distressed,  this  day,  on  every  side  ;  the 
English  have  taken  away  some  of  my  estate,  my  corn,  my  cattle, 
my  plough,  cart,  chain,  and  other  goods.  The  enemy  Indians 
have  taken  part  of  what  I  had  ;  and  the  wicked  Indians  mock 
and  scoff  at  me,  saying  '  now  what  is  come  of  your  praying  ot 
God  ?'  The  English  also  censure  me  and  say  I  am  a  hypocrite. 
In  this  distress  I  have  no  where  to  look  but  up  to  God  in  the 
heavens  to  help  me.  Now  my  dear  wife  and  eldest  son  (through 
the  English  threatening)  run  away,  and  I  fear  will  perish  in  the 
woods  for  want  of  food ;  also  my  aged  mother  is  lost,  and  all 
this  doth  aggravate  my  grief.  Yet  I  desire  to  look  up  to  God 
in  Christ  Jesus,  in  whom  alone  is  help."  Being  asked  whether 
he  had  not  assisted  the  enemy  in  their  wars  when. he  was  amongst 
them,  he  answered,  "  I  never  joined  with  them  against  the  Eng- 
lish. Indeed  they  often  solicited  me,  but  I  utterly  denied  and 
refused  them.  I  thought  within  myself,  it  is  better  to  die  than 
fight  against  the  church  of  Christ."  After  the  war  had  raged  a 
while,  the  minds  of  the  English  were  softened  towards  them. 
They  let  them  go  forth  to  the  war  under  the  command  of  Eng- 
lish officers.  General  Gookin  says  that  they  took  and  destroyed 
not  less  than  four  hundred  of  Philip's  men. 

In  1686,  a  Mr.  John  Dunton,  an  English  bookseller,  visited 
Natick,  the  principal  settlement  of  the  praying  Indians.  He 
went  out  with  a  party  to  attend  one  of  Mr.  Eliot's  lectures,  and 
recorded  the  incidents  of  his  visit  as  here  follows : 


410  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

"  We  had  about  twenty  miles  to  Natick,  where  the  best  accommoda- 
tions we  could  meet  with,  were  very  coarse.  We  ty'd  up  our  horses 
in  two  old  barns,  that  were  almost  laid  in  ruins.  But  there  was  no 
place  where  we  could  bestow  ourselves,  unless  upon  the  green  sward, 
till  the  lecture  began.  While  we  were  making  discoveries  around  the 
Indian  village,  we  were  informed  that  the  sachem,  or  the  Indian  king 
and  his  queen  were  there.  The  place,  it  is  true,  did  not  look  like  the 
royal  residence,  however  we  could  easily  believe  the  report,  and  went 
immediately  to  visit  their  king  and  queen  ;  and  here  my  courage  did 
not  fail  me,  for  I  stept  up  and  kissed  the  Indian  queen,  making  her  two 
very  low  bows,  which  she  returned  very  civilly.  The  sachem  was  very 
tall  and  well  limbed  ;  but  had  no  beard,  and  a  sort  of  horse  face.  The 
queen  was  very  well  shaped,  and  her  features  might  pass  very  well. 
She  had  eyes  black  as  jet,  and  teeth  white  as  ivory  ;  her  hair  was  very 
black  and  long  ;  she  was  considerably  up  in  years.  Her  dress  was 
peculiar.  She  had  sleeves  of  moose  skin,  very  finely  dressed,  and 
drawn  with  lines  of  various  colors,  in  arratic  work,  and  her  buskins 
were  of  the  same  sort  ;  her  mantle  was  of  fine  blue  cloth,  but  very 
short  and  ty'd  about  the  shoulders,  and  at  the  middle  with  a  zone,  curi- 
ously wrought  with  white  and  blue  beads  into  pretty  figures  ;  her 
bracelets  and  necklace  were  of  the  same  sort  of  beads,  and  she  had  a 
little  tablet  upon  her  breast  very  finely  decked  with  jewels  and  precious 
stones.  Her  hair  was  combed  back  and  tied  up  with  a  border  which 
was  neatly  worked  with  gold  and  silver." 

Tradition  has  handed  down  to  us  some  anecdotes  respecting 
individuals,  which  exhibit  the  shrewdness  of  the  Indian  cha- 
racter. Waban,  at  whose  wigwam  at  Nonantum  Mr.  Eliot  began 
to  preach,  was  commissioned  as  a  justice  of  the  peace.  Instead 
of  having  a  long  warrant,  needlessly  multiplying  words,  as  legal 
instruments  do  at  the  present  day,  he  was  accustomed  to  issue 
his  precepts  in  a  very  laconic  form.  When  he  directed  Ms  war- 
rant to  the  constable,  he  simply  wrote  :  "  Quick  you  catch  um, 
fast  you  hold  um,  and  bring  um  before  me,  Justice  Waban." 
On  another  occasion  a  young  justice  asked  him  what  he  should 
do  with  Indians  after  they  had  had  a  drunken  fight,  and  entered 
a  complaint  against  any  of  their  number  ?  His  reply  was,  "  Whip 
um  plaintiff,  whip  um  defendant,  and  whip  um  witnesses." 

Mr.  Eliot  translated  the  Bible  into  the  language  of  the  Indians. 
He  was  often  troubled  to  find  words  in  the  Indian  language, 


THE  REV.  JOHN  ELIOT  AND  ms  INDIAN  CONVERTS.     411 

owing  to  its  poverty,  to  express  the  precise  meaning.  In  translat- 
ing the  song  of  Deborah  and  Barak,  where  the  mother  of  Sisera 
is  represented  as  looking  through  the  lattice  to  see  her  son  re- 
turn from  the  battle,  he  was  at  a  great  loss  for  an  Indian  word 
to  express  lattice  ;  as  they  lived  in  wigwams,  and  had  nothing 
about  them  that  answered  to  this  term.  He  called  an  Indian 
and  described  to  him  a  lattice,  as  a  wicker  work,  and  wanted  to 
know  what  word  there  was  in  their  language  that  would  convey 
the  idea.  The  Indian  could  think  of  nothing  but  an  eel-pot. 
The  mother  of  Sisera  looked  through  an  eel-pot.  He  found  that 
this  word  would  not  do ;  but  what  word  he  substituted  I  do  not 
know.1 


1  Some  facts  respecting  Eliot's  Indian  Bible,  were  published  not  long  ago  in  the  Boston  Eecorder, 
which  it  may  be  interesting  for  the  reader  to  refer  to  in  this  connection. 

Eliot's  Bible  was  printed  in  Cambridge,  in  1063,  by  Samuel  Green  and  Marmaduke  Johnson,  under 
the  immediate  patronage  of  the  society,  which  h:id  been  formed  in  England,  for  the  propagation  of 
the  gospel  among  the  Indians  in  New  England,  commonly  called  the  Corporation.  Johnson  was 
Bent  over  from  England  by  the  Corporation  for  the  express  purpose  of  assisting  in  this  great  work. 
Green  had  been  connected  with  the  press  almost  ever  since  it  was  first  established  in  Cambridge. 
The  Corporation,  at  first,  had  their  printing  done  in  England,  but  when  Eliot  had  translated  his 
catechism,  etc.,  and  eventually  the  Bible,  into  the  Indian  language,  it  became  necessary  that  the 
printing  should  be  done  here.1  The  first  materials  for  the  work  arrived  in  1655.  In  1058,  it  seems 
by  the  following  record,  Green  petitioned,  through  the  general  court,  for  more  types  : 

"At  a  General  Court  holden  at  Boston,  Iflth  of  May,  1658;  in  answer  to  the  Peticon  of  Samuel 
Green,  printer  at  Cambridge,  The  Court  Juclgeth  it  mete  to  commend  the  consideration  to  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  united  colonies  at  their  next  meeting,  that  so  if  they  sec  rneete  they  may  write  to 
the  Corporation  in  England  for  the  procuring  of  20  pounds  worth  more  of  letters  for  the  vse  of  the 
Indian  Collcdg." 

What  is  here  called  the  Indian  college,  was  the  building  used  for  the  printing  office.  It  had  been 
erected  by  the  Corporation,  and  designed  as  a  college  for  Indian  youth  ;  but  was  afterwards  taken 
for  a  printing  office.  The  printing  of  ihe  Indian  Bible  was  considered — as  it  would  be  indeed  at 
this  day  —  a  work  of  great  magnitude.  It  excited  the  attention  of  the  nobility  in  England,  and  the 
press  of  Harvard  college  became  famous  in  consequence  of  it.  Two  editions  of  the  Bible  wcro 
printed.  The  first  in  1663,  which  consisted  of  1,000  copies.  The  whole  cost  of  the  edition,  includ- 
ing 500  extra  copies  of  the  New  Testament,  and  also  an  edition  of  Baxter's  Call,  the  Psalter,  and 
two  editions  of  Eliot's  Catechism,  all  in  the  Indian  language,  was  about  1,200^  sterling.  The  second 
edition  of  the  Bible  of  2,OUO  copies,  was  completed  in  1686,  and  cost  considerably  less  than  the  first. 
Mr.  Eliot  gave  a  part  salary  of  his  towards  it. 

The  Bible  was  printed  in  quarto,  on  paper  of  the  pot  size.  It  had  marginal  notes,  and  contained 
an  Indian  translation  of  the  New  England  version  of  the  Psalms.  The  title  was  as  follows :  "  Tho 
Holy  Bible;  containing  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New.  Translated  into  the  Indian  language,  and 
ordered  to  be  printed  by  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  in  New  England,  at  the  charge 
and  with  the  consent  of  the  Corporation  in  England  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  amongst  the 
Indians  in  New  England."  The  title  in  the  Indian  language  is  as  follows:  "Mamusse  Wtinncctu- 
panatamwe  Up-Biblnm  God  nauccswe  Nukkonc-Testament  kah  woiik  Wusku-Testamcut.  Ne  quosh- 


i  There  was  an  Indian  who  had  been  instructed  at  the  Charity  school  in  Cambridge,  to  read  and  write  the  English 
language,  who  became  a  printer,  and  was  called  by  the  name  of  James  Printer.  He  assisted  in  printing  the  Indian 
Bible.  "Within  the  last  half  century  some  of  his  descendants  were  living  in  Grafton. 


412  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

A  few  of  Eliot's  converts  entered  Harvard  College.  A  brick 
building  was  erected  for  their  particular  accommodation.  Only 
one  or  two  ever  completed  their  collegiate  course. 

The  work  of  converting  the  Indians  was  opposed,  both  by  the 
powows  and  sachems.  The  people  stood  in  awe  of  the  sachems. 
Hiacoomes,  a  convert  of  the  Mayhews  on  Martha's  Vineyard, 
defied  the  power  of  the  powows.  In  the  midst  of  a  great  assembly 
on  the  island,  the  power  of  the  powows  was  debated.  One  called 

kinnumuk   nashpe    Wnttinncumoh    Christ  noh  osoowesit   John    Eliot.     Nabohtocu  ontehetoe 
Piintewoomuk.    Cambridge  :  Printeuoop  nashpe  Samuel  Green  kah  Marmadnke  Johnson." 

It  is  impossible  at  this  day  to  form  any  conception  of  the  labor  and  patient  industry  which  this 
work  must  have  cost.  Mr.  Eliot.  To  reduce  to  writing  the  rude  language  of  the  Indians,  to  translate 
into  it  the  whole  Bible,  and  then  to  superintend  the  printing  by  persons  unacquainted  with  the 
language ;  and  all  this  in  the  midst  of  unremittcd  efforts  to  bring  the  Indians  to  the  knowledge  of 
the  truth,  and  in  addition  to  his  labors  as  pastor  of  the  church  in  Roxbury  —  was  an  undertaking 
which  might  well  have  tired  the  strongest  hand,  and  discouraged  the  stoutest  heart.1  It  is  a  strik- 
ing illustration  of  the  mutability  of  human  affairs,  that  a  book  thus  laboriously  prepared,  for  en- 
lightening a  people  then  numerous,  is  now,  in  less  than  two  centuries,  a  sealed  book  —  the  race  of 
beings  for  whose  benefit  it  was  designed,  is  entirely  extinct,  and  probably  not  a  person  on  earth  can 
read  it.2 

The  Indian  Bible  wns  dedicated  to  King  Charles  the  Second,  who  had  encouraged  the  undertaking. 
The  following  extracts  from  the  dedication,  will  interest  the  curious  reader: 

"  Most  Dread  Soveraign.—  We  are  bold  to  Present  to  Your  Majesty  the  WHOLE  BIBLE,  Trans- 
lated into  the  Language  of  the  Natives  of  this  country,  by  A  Painful  Labourer  in  that  Work,  and 
now  Printed  and  Finished,  by  means  of  the  Pious  Beneficence  of  Your  Majesties  Subjects  in  Eng- 
land: which  also  by  Your  Special  Favour  hath  been  continued  and  confirmed  to  the  intended  Use 
and  Advancement  of  so  Great  and  Good  Work,  as  is  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  to  these  poor 
Barbarians  in  this  (Ere-while)  Unknown  World." 

"  And  though  there  be  in  this  Western  World  many  colonies  of  other  European  nations,  yet  we 
humbly  conceive  no  Prince  hath  had  a  return  of  such  a  Work  as  this.  The  Southern  colonies  of  the 
Spanish  Nation  have  sent  home  from  this  American  Continent,  much  Gold  and  Silver,  as  the  Fruit 
and  End  of  their  Discoveries  and  Transplantations :  That  (we  confess)  is  a  scarce  commodity  in  this 
colder  climatft.  But  (suitable  to  the  Ends  of  our  Undertaking)  we  present  the  Fruit  of  our  poor  En- 
deavors to  Plant  and  Propagate  the  Gospel  here ;  which  upon  a  true  account,  is  as  much  better  than 
Gold,  as  the  Souls  of  men  are  worth  more  than  the  whole  World.  This  is  a  nobler  Fruit  (and  indeed 
in  the  Counsels  of  All-Disposing  Providence,  was  an  higher  intended  End)  of  Columbus  his  Adven- 
ture. And  though  by  his  Brother's  being  hindered  from  a  seasonable  Application,  your  Famous 
Prcdecessour  and  Ancestor,  King  Henry  the  Seventh,  missed  of  being  sole  Owner  of  that  first  Dis- 
covery, and  of  the  Riches  thereof;  yet  if  the  Honour  of  first  Discovering  the  True  and  Saving 
Knowledge  of  the  Gospel  unto  the  poor  Americans,  and  o!  Erecting  the  Kingdome  of  JESUS  CHRIST 
among  them,  be  Reserved  for,  and  do  Redound  unto  your  Majesty,  and  the  English  Nation,  After 
ages  will  not  reckon  this  Inferiour  to  the  other.  Religion  is  the  End  and  Glory  of  Mankinde.  And 
as  it  was  the  Professed  End  of  this  Plantation,  so  we  desire  ever  to  keep  it  in  our  Eye  as  our  main 
design  (both  as  to  ourselves  and  the  Natives  about  us)  and  that  our  Products  may  be  answerable 
thereunto." 


J  There  is  a  tradition  —which  we  believe  has  the  authority  of  Mather's  Magnalia  —  that  Mr.  Eliot  wrote  the  whole  of 
his  translation  with  one  pen. 

9  "It  remained  for  a  scholar  of  our  generation,  Mr.  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  to  revive  this  extinct 
language,  and  he  has  found  its  study  something  more  than  the  mere  gratification  of  literary  curiosity." —  Field's 
Indian  Bibliography,  New  York,  1873. 


THE  REV.  JOHN  ELIOT  AND  HIS  INDIAN  CONVERTS.     413 

out,  "  "Who  is  there  that  does  not  fear  the  power  of  the  powows  ?" 
The  powows  were  enraged  with  the  praying  Indians,  and 
threatened  them  with  immediate  death ;  but  Hiacoomes  chal- 
lenged them  to  do  their  worst.  "  Let  all  the  powows  on  the 
island  come  together,  I  will  venture  myself  in  the  midst  of  them 
all.  Let  them  use  all  their  witchcrafts,  with  the  help  of  God,  I 
will  tread  upon  them  all."  The  heathen  Indians  were  astonished 
at  the  boldness  of  Hiacoomes.  But  they  saw  that  no  harm  came 
nigh  him,  and  they  concluded  that  the  God  of  the  English  was 
superior  to  the  God  of  the  powows.  The  gospel  destroyed  the 
tyranny  that  the  sachems  were  accustomed  to  exercise  over  the 
common  people.  Hence  they  were  all  united  in  opposing  its 
introduction.  After  a  public  lecture,  a  sachem  used  threatening 
and  insulting  language,  and  told  Eliot  that  all  the  sachems  in  the 
country  were  opposed  to  the  work.  In  giving  an  account  of  this 
interview,  Mr.  Eliot  says,  "  I  was  alone  and  not  any  Englishman 
with  me ;  but  it  pleased  God  to  raise  up  my  spirits ;  not  to  a 
passion,  but  to  a  bold  resolution,  so  that  I  told  him  it  was  God's 
work  in  which  I  was  engaged ;  that  He  was  with  me,  and  that  I 
feared  not  him,  nor  all  the  sachems  in  the  country;  and  that  I 
was  resolved  to  go  on,  do  what  they  might."  This  bold  reply 
caused  the  sachem  to  quail  before  the  man  of  God. 

King  Philip  felt  the  same  hostility.  After  Mr.  Eliot  had  pre- 
sented to  him  the  great  truths  of  the  gospel,  he  took  hold  of  a 
button  on  Mr.  Eliot's  coat,  and  said,  "  I  care  for  the  gospel  just 
as  much  as  I  care  for  that  button." 

The  life  of  a  missionary  is  not  one  of  luxury  and  ease,  but  of 
toil  and  trial.  He  needs  much  of  the  spirit  of  Him  that  endured 
great  contradiction  of  sinners,  and  came  not  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  to  minister.  He  is  called  to  practice  great  self-denial. 
Eliot  thus  describes  his  own  personal  hardships  on  one  occasion  : 
"  I  was  not  dry,  night  nor  day,  from  the  third  day  to  the  sixth ; 
but  so  traveled,  and  at  night  I  pull  oif  my  boots,  wring  my 
stockings,  and  on  with  them  again,  and  so  continue,  yet  God 
helped.  I  considered  that  word  2  Timothy  2,  3.  Endure  hard- 
ness, as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ." 

In  the  times  of  Eliot  there  was  no  missionary  periodical,  through 


414  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

which  he  could  communicate  the  results  of  his  labors.  He  sent 
over  to  England  an  account  of  his  success,  and  the  hearts  of 
Christians  there  were  affected.  Sir  Robert  Boyle  and  his  friends 
formed  an  association  to  assist  Mr.  Eliot,  which  defrayed  the 
expense  of  publishing  two  editions  of  his  Bible. 

Eliot  lived  to  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-six.  He  brought 
forth  fruit  in  his  old  age.  After  he  was  unable  to  preach  publicly, 
he  was  accustomed  to  give  instruction  to  the  negroes,  at  his  own 
house.  Cotton  Mather  applies  the  words  of  Polycarp  to  Eliot. 
"  These  eighty-six  years,"  said  the  holy  man,  "  have  I  served  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  he  has  been  such  a  good  master  unto  me 
all  the  while,  that  I  will  not  now  forsake  him."  Eliot's  last  words 
were,  "  Welcome  joy;"  and  he  departed  calling  upon  the  by- 
standers, "  Pray,  pray,  pray." 

Mather  applies  to  his  death,  what  he  was  accustomed  to  apply 
to  the  death  of  others.  When  informed  of  the  death  of  pious 
men,  and  asked  what  shall  we  do  ?  he  would  answer,  "  Well,  but 
God  lives  !  Christ  lives  !  the  Saviour  of  New  England  yet  lives ! 
and  he  will  reign  till  all  his  enemies  are  made  his  footstool." 

The  leading  trait  in  Eliot's  character  was  a  desire  to  do  good. 
This  was  indeed  the  secret  spring  of  all  his  actions.  He  desired 
to  do  good  in  the  best  and  highest  sense.  He  wished  to  improve 
the  temporal  condition  of  the  Indians,  to  break  up  their  savage 
habits,  and  introduce  among  them  the  arts  of  civilized  life.  But 
his  principal  object  was  to  bring  them  to  be  acquainted  with  the 
gospel.  For  this  great  and  holy  purpose  of  doing  good,  he 
reduced  their  speech  to  a  written  language  ;  translated  the  Bible, 
and  other  religious  books ;  made  painful  journeys  in  the  wilder- 
ness ;  partook  of  coarse  fare  in  their  wigwams,  and  endured 
opposition  from  the  powows  and  sachems.  He  was  a  true  disciple 
of  Him  that  went  about  doing  good.  He  was  equally  ready  to 
do  good  to  his  neighbors  as  to  the  sons  of  the  forest.  He  was 
indeed  sometimes  guilty  of  overmuch  generosity.  So  great  was 
his  charity  that  his  salary  was  often  distributed  for  the  relief  of 
his  needy  neighbors  so  soon  after  the  period  at  which  it  was 
received,  that  before  another  period  arrived,  his  own  family  were 
straitened  for  the  comforts  of  life.  One  day  the  parish  treasurer, 


THE  REV.  JOHN  ELIOT  AND  HIS  INDIAN  CONVERTS.     415 

on  paying  the  money  for  the  salary  due,  which  he  put  into  a 
handkerchief,  in  order  to  prevent  Mr.  Eliot's  giving  away  the 
money  before  he  got  home,  tied  the  end  of  the  handkerchief  in 
as  many  hard  knots  as  he  could.  The  good  man  received  his 
handkerchief  and  took  leave  of  the  treasurer.  He  immediately 
went  to  the  house  of  a  sick  and  necessitous  family.  On  entering 
he  gave  them  his  blessing,  and  told  them  that  God  had  sent  them 
some  relief.  The  sufferers,  with  tears  of  gratitude,  welcomed 
their  pious  benefactor,  who,  with  moistened  eyes,  began  to  untie 
the  knots  in  his  handkerchief.  After  many  efforts  to  get  at  his 
money,  and  impatient  at  the  perplexity  and  delay,  he  gave  the 
handkerchief  and  all  the  money  to  the  mother  of  the  family, 
saying,  with  a  trembling  accent,  "  Here,  my  dear,  take  it,  I  believe 
the  Lord  designs  it  all  for  you." 


INDIAN  LANG  UA  GES  OF  THE  PA  CIFIC  STA  TES  AND 
TERRITORIES. ' 

BY  ALBEET  S.  GATSCHET. 

A  few  decenniums  of  research,  in  our  newly  acquired  western 
dominions  have  acquainted  us  with  the  singular  fact  that  clusters 
of  very  numerous,  and  for  the  larger  part  narrowly  circumscribed 
areas  of  languages  exist  in  these  vast  and  remote  regions.  In 

n        o  o 

California,  and  north  of  it,  one  stock  of  language  is  generally 
represented  by  several,  sometimes  by  a  large  number  of  dialects 
and  sub-dialects;  but  there  are  instances,  as  in  Shasta  and  in 
Klamath,  where  a  stock  is  represented  by  one  idiom  only,  which 
never  had  diverged  into  dialects,  or  the  sub-dialects  of  which 
have  become  extinct  in  the  course  of  time.  Although  certain 
resemblances  between  them  may  be  traced  in  their  phonological 
morphological  character,  they  are  totally  distinct  in  their  radicals, 
and  by  this  criterion  we  are  enabled  to  attempt  their  classifica- 
tion by  stocks  or  families.  Any  other  than  a  genealogical  classifi- 
cation is  at  present  impossible,  for  we  do  not  possess  even  the 
most  necessary  grammatical  data  for  the  majority  of  the  lan- 
guages spoken  along  the  Pacific  coast. 

For  the  western  languages,  and  those  of  the  great  Interior 
Basin,  our  main  sources  of  information  are  (and  will  be  for  many 
years  to  come)  vocabularies  of  one  hundred  to  two  hundred  terms 
each.  Those  obtained  and  published  frequently  bear  the  stamp 
of  dilettantism,  sometimes  that  of  profound  ignorance  of  lin- 
guistic science  on  the  part  of  word-collectors,  who  wholly  under- 
rated the  great  difficulty  of  taking  down  a  set  of  disconnected 
words  in  a  totally  unknown  and  phonetically  unwieldy  idiom. 
These  word-gatherers  would  have  fared  much  better,  and  col- 
lected more  reliable  material,  if  they  had  taken  short  sentences 
of  popular  import  or  texts  containing  no  abstract  ideas.  For 


1  This  paper  was  prepared  especially  for  the  Indian  Miscellany  in  December,  1876,  but  was  sub- 
sequently extended  and  published  in  The  Magazine  of  American  History  (New  York),  for  March, 
1877,  from  which  it  is  here  reproduced. 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES.        417 

an  Indian  is  not  accustomed  to  think  of  terms  incoherent,  or 
words  disconnected  from  others,  or  of  abstract  ideas,  but  uses 
his  words  merely  as  integral  parts  of  a  whole  sentence,  or  in  con- 
nection with  others.  This  is  the  true  cause  of  the  large  incor- 
porative  power  of  the  American  tongues,  which  in  many  of  them 
culminates  in  an  extended  polysyuthetism,  and  embodies  whole 
sentences  in  one  single  verbal  form. 

At  a  time  when  the  principal  languages  and  dialects  of  Asia, 
Africa  and  Australasia,  the  living  as  well  as  the  extinct,  are  being 
investigated  with  uncommon  ardor  ;  myths,  popular  songs,  dirges 
and  speeches  collected,  published  and  commented  upon  with 
erudition  and  corresponding  success,  very  few  of  the  American 
languages,  north  and  south,  have  been  the  object  of  thorough 
research.  There  is  no  scarcity  of  thorough  linguists  among  us, 
but  the  reason  for  their  want  of  activity  in  this  direction  simply 
lies  in  the  want  of  proper  encouragement  from  the  authorities, 
the  publishers,  the  press  and  the  pu  blic.  This  is  very  discourag- 
ing, we  confess ;  but  it  shall  not  hinder  us  from  examining  some- 
what closer  this  topic,  and  from  trying  to  get  at  the  true  facts. 

The  general  public  is  very  ignorant  of  languages  and  linguist- 
ics", and  as  a  rule  confounds  linguistics  with  philology.  Many 
people  have  a  horror  of  philology  because  the  Latin  and  Greek 
paradigms  .which  they  had  to  study  in  college  classes,  recall  to 
them  the  dreariest  days  of  compulsory  education,  juvenile  misery 
and  birch-rod  executions.  From  these  two  languages  they  infer, 
superficially  enough,  that  the  study  of  all  other  foreign  tongues 
must  involve  similar  mental  torments.  Others  believe  that  the 
Indian  languages  are  not  real  tongues,  deserving  to  be  termed 
so ;  but  only  thwarted  productions  of  the  diseased  heathen  mind, 
because  they  do  not  agree  with  classical  models,  nor  with  the 
grammar  of  the  primeval  language  of  the  world,  the  Hebrew, 
"  which  was  spoken  in  paradise." 

The  majority,  however,  suppose  that  any  Indian  language  is 
simply  a  gibberish  not  worth  bothering  about;  they  ought  to 
remember  that  every  language,  even  the  most  harmonious  and 
perfect,  is  a  gibberish  to  those  who  do  not  understand  it,  sound- 
ing unpleasantly  to  their  ears,  because  they  are  unaccustomed  to 
28 


418  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

its  cadences  and  phonetic  laws.  The  mastering  of  a  language 
is  the  only  remedy  against  a  certain  repugnance  to  it  on  the  side 
of  the  listener. 

A  further  objection  which  is  sometimes  raised  against  studying 
the  tongues  of  the  red  man,  consists  in  the  erroneous  assertion 
that  they  have  no  literature  of  their  own.  This  statement  is 
founded  on  a  profound  ignorance  of  existing  facts,  and  more- 
over, is  only  the  expression  of  the  old-fashioned,  mistaken  idea 
that  languages  should  be  studied  only  on  account  of  their  litera- 
tures, thus  confounding  philology  with  linguistics.  Indians  never 
did  and  do  not  write  down  their  mental  productions,  simply 
because  they  do  not  trace  their  immediate  origin  from  the  Eastern 
races,  from  whom  we  have  received  the  priceless  gift  of  alphabet- 
ical writing;  but  that  they  really  possess  such  productions,  as 
well  as  the  Malays,  Polynesians  and  South  Africans,  no  one  can 
doubt  who  has  read  of  Indian  prophets,  orators  and  story-tellers, 
with  their  fluency  and  oratorical  powers,  who  has  listened  to 
their  multiform,  sometimes  scurrilous  mythological  tales  or  yarns, 
heard  their  war-shouts,  the  words  accompanying  their  dancing 
tunes,  or  in  the  darkness  of  the  night  overheard  some  of  their 
lugubrious,  heart-moving  dirges  sung  by  wailing  women,  as  they 
slowly  marched  in  file  around  the  corpse  of  some  relative,  the 
whole  scene  lit  up  by  the  flickering  flames  of  the  lurid  camp-fires. 
A  volume  of  Schoolcraft's  Indians  contains  a  large  number  of 
Odjibway  songs,  and  the  author  of  this  article  has  himself  ob- 
tained over  seventy  most  interesting  and  popular  songs  from  the 
Cayuses,  Warm  Springs,  Klamaths,  Taos,  Iroquois  and  Abnakis, 
in  their  original  form.  So  the  white  race  alone  is  to  blame  for 
its  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  unwritten,  often  highly  poetical 
productions  of  an  illiterate  race. 

The  science  of  linguistics  is  of  so  recent  a  date,  that  few  men 
have  yet  grasped  its  real  position  among  the  other  sciences. 
We  must  henceforth  consider  it  as  a  science  of  nature,  and  reject 
the  old  conception  of  it  as  a  science  of  the  human  mind.  Stylis- 
tics  and  rhetorics  of  a  language  may  be  called  the  province  of 
the  human  mind,  but  language  itself  is  a  product  of  nature,  pro- 
duced through  human  instrumentality.  Man  does  not  invent 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES.        419 

his  language,  any  more  than  a  bird  does  its  twittering,  or  a  tree 
its  leaves.  It  requires  a  whole  nation  to  produce  a  language, 
and  even  then  such  nation  must  start  from  phonetic  elements 
already  understood. 

The  innumerable  agencies  which  give  to  a  country  its  climate 
will  also,  by  length  of  time,  shape  man  and  his  language.  Noth- 
ing is  fortuitous  or  arbitrary  in  human  speech  and  its  historical 
developments;  the  most  insignificant  word  or  sound  has  its 
history,  and  the  linguist's  task  is  to  investigate  its  record.  Thus 
every  language  on  this  globe  is  perfect,  but  perfect  only  for  the 
purpose  it  is  intended  to  fulfill ;  Indian  thought  runs  in  another, 
more  concrete  direction  than  ours,  and  therefore  Indian  speech 
is  shaped  very  differently  from  iridogermanic  models,  which  we, 
in  our  inherited  and  unjustified  pride,  are  prone  to  regard  as  the 
only  models  of  linguistic  perfection.  The  Indian  neglects  to  ex- 
press with  accuracy  some  relations  which  seem  of  paramount 
importance  to  us,  as  tense  and  sex,  but  his  language  is  largely 
superior  to  ours  in  the  variety  of  its  personal  pronouns,  in  many 
•forms  expressing  the  mode  of  action,  or  the  idea  of  property  and 
possession,  and  the  relations  of  the  person  or  persons  addressed 
to  the  subject  of  the  sentence. 

Another  prejudice  against  the  Indian  tongues  is  derived  from 
the  filthy  or  uninviting  appearance  of  the  red-skinned  man  him- 
self. It  is  true  that  most  Indians  seem  very  miserable,  disgust- 
ing, poor,  silly,  even  grotesque  and  comical ;  yet  this  is  partly 
due  to  the  state  of  degradation  to  which  he  has  been  reduced  by 
the  land-grabbing  Anglo-American  settler,  who  has  deprived  him 
of  his  former,  natural  ways  of  subsistence ;  but  it  is  also  a  charac- 
teristic of  his  cinnamon-complexioned  race,  and  has  been  so  for 
times  immemorial.  In  the  numerous  settlements,  where  the 
condition  of  the  Indian  has  undoubtedly  undergone  a  great 
change  for  the  better,  through  the  advent  of  the  white  population, 
he  seerns  just  as  miserable,  shy,  sad  and  filthy  as  before.  To 
draw  conclusions  from  the  exterior  appearance  of  a  people  on 
their  language,  and  to  suppose  that  a  man  not  worth  looking  at 
cannot  speak  a  language  worth  studying,  would  be  the  acme  of 
superficiality,  and  worthy  only  of  those  who  in  their  folly  trust 
to  appearances  alone. 


420  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Pursuant  to  these  intimations,  I  judge  that  the  only  means  of 
bringing  about  a  favorable  change  in  public  sentiment  concern- 
ing the  tongues  of  our  aborigines,  is  a  better  understanding  of 
the  real  object  and  purpose  of  linguistic  science.  Languages  are 
living  organisms,  natural  growths,  genuine  productions  of  race 
and  country,  and  scientifically  speaking,  it  is  as  important  to 
investigate  them  as  to  describe  minutely  a  curious  tree,  a  rare 
plant,  a  strange  insect  or  aquatic  animal.  But  to  gather  informa- 
tion on  them  with  success,  a  much  more  accurate  method  of 
transcription  or  transliteration  than  those  generally  used  by 
word-collectors  must  be  adopted.  The  old  nonsensical  method 
of  using  the  English  orthography,  so  utterly  unscientific  and 
unbearable  to  the  sight  of  every  instructed  man,  has  at  last  been 
discarded  almost  universally.  Only  scientific  alphabets  must  be 
here  employed,  and  an  alphabet  can  be  considered  as  such  only 
when  one  sound  is  constantly  expressed  by  one  and  the  same  letter 
only.  Such  alphabets  have  been  proposed  by  G.  Gibbs,  Pro- 
fessors Richard  Lepsius,  Haldeman,  Alex.  Ellis,  and  many  others, 
and  it  would  be  a  fitting  subject  for  a  congress  of  linguists  to 
decide  which  system  is  the  most  appropriate  for  transcribing 
Indian  tongues.  Cursive  Latin  characters  must  be  used,  and  in 
some  cases,  altered  by  diacritical  marks,  to  convey  peculiar 
meanings ;  the  invention  of  new  alphabetic  systems  or  syllaba- 
ries like  those  of  Sequoyah,  and  the  hooks  and  crooks  recently 
used  for  transcribing  Cree  and  other  northern  tongues  are  not  a 
help  to  science,  because  they  are  not  readily  legible  or  reducible 
to  the  accepted  old-world  systems  of  transcribing  languages.  A 
debate  may  also  be  started  by  a  linguistic  congress,  what  term 
should  be  employed  instead  of  Indian,  which  is  unsatisfactory 
in  many  respects;  a  thorough  remodelling  of  the  terminology 
used  in  Indian  grammars  would  form  another  fruitful  theme  of 
discussion.  Our  indogermanic  ideas  of  grammar  must  be  entirely 
disregarded  if  we  would  write  a  correct  grammatical  sketch  of 
some  Indian  language. 

The  vocabularies,1  in  the  shape  as  we  possess  them  now,  are 


1  In  1875,  the  29th  year  from  it8  foundation,  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  in  Washington,  had 
collected  texts,  phraseology,  and  771  vocabularies  of  about  200  words  each,  but  for  unknown  reasons 
had  published  only  a  small  portion  of  this  enormous  linguistic  material. 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES.        421 

useful  in  many  respects.  They  do  not  give  us  much  information 
about  the  structure  of  the  languages,  but  serve  at  least  for 
classifying  purposes,  and  the  small  number  of  them  which  bear 
the  stamp  of  accuracy  in  their  notation  of  the  accent  and  the  use 
of  a  scientific  alphabet,  at  least  give  a  foothold  for  Indian  pho- 
nology. 

But  men  of  science  need  a  great  deal  more  than  this.  Language 
is  a  living  organism,  and  to  study  it,  we  must  not  only  have  the 
loose  bones  of  its  body,  but  the  life-blood  which  is  throbbing  in 
its  veins  and  forms  the  real  essence  of  human  speech.  Not  the 
stems  or  words  alone,  but  the  inflectional  forms,  the  syntactical 
shaping  of  the  spoken  word  and  the  sentence  itself  are  desidera- 
tums  mostly  craved  for.  Linguists  must  therefore,  as  reliable 
grammars  and  full  dictionaries  (all  the  words  properly  accent- 
uated !)  cannot  be  expected  at  once,  place  their  hopes  in  collec- 
tions of  texts  illustrating  the  native  customs  and  manners,  the 
religious  beliefs,  superstitions,  scraps  of  Indian  history,  speeches, 
dialogues,  songs  and  dirges,  descriptions  of  manufactured  articles, 
and  of  the  houses,  tools,  implements  and  dress  of  each  nation 
and  tribe  visited. 

These  texts  should  be  given  in  the  Indian  language,  and  accom- 
panied by  a  very  accurate,  and  if  possible,  an  interlinear  and 
verbal  translation  of  the  items.  All  the  commentaries  and 
remarks  needed  for  a  full  understanding  of  the  texts  should  be 
added  to  it.  The  more  material  is  furnished  in  this  way,  the 
better  our  linguists  will  be  enabled  to  disclose  the  hidden 
scientific  treasures  stored  up  in  these  curious,  but  now  almost 
unknown,  forms  of  human  speech,  and  to  present  them  to  the 
world,  in  the  shape  of  grammars,  dictionaries  and  anthologies  of 
aboriginal  prose  and  poetry.  To  the  ethnologist  such  texts  will 
be  just  as  valuable  as  to  the  historian  and  the  linguist. 

THE  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  WESTERN  SLOPE. 

A  most  singular  fact  disclosed  by  the  topography  of  language- 
stocks  all  over  the  world  is  the  enormous  difference  of  the  areas 
occupied  by  the  various  families.  In  the  eastern  hemisphere, 
we  see  the  Uralo- Altaic,  the  Chinese,  the  Indogermanic,  Semitic 


422  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

and  Dravidian,  the  Pullo  and  the  Congo-Kafrian  or  Ba'-ntu 
family  of  languages,  extending  over  areas  much  wider  or  as  wide 
as  the  Tinne,  Shoshoni,  Algonkin,  Dakota,  Chahta-Maskoki  and 
Guarani  stock,  while  small  areas  are,  perhaps,  as  numerous  in 
the  eastern  hemisphere  as  in  the  western.  Their  size  evidently 
depends  on  the  configuration  and  surface-quality  of  the  lands, 
which  again  determine  the  mode  of  the  subsistence  of  their  in- 
habitants. 

The  natives  of  a  country,  when  not  influenced  by  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  white  race,  will  in  barren  plains,  steppes,  prairies  and 
woodland,  generally  become  hunters  ;  on  the  shores  of  the  sea 
and  on  the  banks  of  the  larger  rivers,  they  will  resort  to  fishing, 
and  sometimes,  when  settled  on  the  coast,  turn  pirates  or  form 
smaller  maritime  powers,  while  the  inhabitants  of  table-lands 
will  till  the  fields,  plant  fructiferous  trees,  or  collect  esculent 
roots  for  their  sustenance.  Of  these  three  modes  of  sustenance 
we  see  frequently  two  combined  in  one  tribe.  The  fishers  live 
peacefully  and  in  small  hordes,  because  large  settlements,  on  one 
spot  of  a  river  bank  at  least,  could  not  be  supplied  at  all  seasons 
of  the  year  with  a  sufficient  supply  of  fish  from  the  river. 
Hunters  become,  from  their  nomadic  habits,  accustomed  to  a 
restless,  adventurous  life,  and  in  their  thus  acquired  warlike 
disposition  will  constantly  threaten  their  weaker  neighbors ;  if 
opportunity  offers  itself  will  declare  war,  overwhelm  and  enslave 
or  destroy  them,  and  thereby  extend  the  dominion  of  their  own 
language  over  a  wider  area.  Agricultural  pursuits  bear  in 
themselves  the  germs  of  steadiness,  of  order  and  progress ; 
countries  settled  and  improved  by  agriculturists  will  gradually, 
when  the  population  becomes  more  dense,  consolidate  into 
oligarchies  or  monarchies,  generally  of  a  despotic  character. 
Such  political  bodies  have  frequently  absorbed  neighboring  com- 
munities engaged  in  similar  pursuits,  and  turned  with  them  into 
powerful  empires,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Aztecs,  Mayas,  Chibehas 
and  Quichhuas,  in  the  western  hemisphere.  For  obvious 
reasons  pastoral  pursuits  were  almost  entirely  unknown  in 
America,  but  were  powerful  agents  of  culture  in  Asia  and  Europe, 
since  they  facilitated  the  transition  from  the  hunter  or  nomadic 
state  to  the  state  of  agriculturists. 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES.        423 

California  and  portions  of  the  Columbia  river  basin,  with  their 
numerous  rivers  and  the  enormous  quantity  of  salmon,  trout  and 
lamprey  eel  ascending  annually  their  limpid  waters,  were  essen- 
tially countries  occupied  by  fisher-tribes,  and  before  the  advent 
of  the  white  man,  are  supposed  to  have  harbored  a  dense  native 
population.  Among  these  fisher-tribes  we  also  find  the  smallest 
areas  of  languages  ;  six  of  them  are  crowded  on  the  two  banks 
of  the  Klamath  river  and  many  more  around  the  Sacramento, 
although  these  streams  do  not  exceed  in  length,  respectively, 
250  and  400  miles.  To  produce  or  preserve  so  many  small  lan- 
guage families,  totally  distinct  from  each  other  in  their  radicals, 
these  tribes  must  have  lived  during  very  long  periods  in  a  state 
of  comparative  isolation,  and  have  remained  almost  untouched 
by  foreign  invaders,  protected  as  they  were  by  the  sea  coast,  and 
by  the  high-towering  wall  of  the  snow-capped  Sierra  Nevada. 

In  the  wide  basin  of  the  upper  Columbia  river  several  tribes 
hunting  the  bear,  buffalo,  elk,  deer  and  antelope,  roam  over  the 
thinly  populated  prairies,  and  occupy  enormous  tracts  of  barren 
and  sage-brush  plains.  Hunting  tribes  need  a  wide  extent  of 
territory,  and  when  it  is  refused  to  them  they  will  fight  for  it. 
Thus  originate  the  constant  wars  of  extermination  among  many 
of  these  tribes,  and  their  encroachments  over  others  in  regard  to 
territory.  Of  this  we  find  the  most  conspicuous  instances  among 
the  nomadic  tribes  roving  between  the  Rocky  mountains  and  the 
Mississippi  river. 

In  their  morphological  character  the  languages  of  America  do 
not  differ  materially  from  the  Asiatic  tongues  of  agglutinative 
structure,  except  by  their  more  developed  power  of  polysynthet- 
ism.  But  in  many  of  their  number  this  faculty  remains  only  in 
an  embryonic  state,  and  by  dint  of  a  far-going  analysis,  some  of 
them  approach  the  structure  of  our  modern  European  analytic 
languages.  Still,  in  a  number  of  others,  the  incorporative  ten- 
dency prevails  in  a  high  degree ;  they  are  synthetic  as  much  as 
the  Latin,  Greek  or  Gothic  —  many  of  them  superlatively  so. 
They  use  not  only  prefixes  and  aifixes,  as  we  do,  but  also  infixes, 
viz  :  particles,  or  particle-fragments,  inserted  into  the  stem.  As 
a  general  thing,  American  languages  are  not  sex-denoting,  though 


424  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

we  find  a  distinction  of  sex  in  the  dual  of  the  Iroquois  verb,  and 
in  some  Central  American  verb-inflections,  where  he  is  distin- 
guished from  she  in  the  personal  pronoun.  A  true  substantive 
verb  to  be  is  not  found  in  any  American  language,1  and  the  word- 
stems  have  not  undergone  that  process  of  thorough  difterention 
between  noun  and  verb  which  we  observe  in  German,  English, 
and  French.  These  three  languages  we  call  accentuating,  since 
the  quantity  of  their  syllables  is  of  relative  importance  only,  the 
influence  of  the  accentuation  being  paramount.  In  many  Ame- 
rican languages  we  observe,  on  the  contrary,  that  accent  shifts 
from  syllable  to  syllable,  though  only  in  a  restricted  number  of 
words,  and  that  instead  of  the  accent  length  and  brevity  of  the 
syllables  receive  closer  -attention.  Such  idioms  we  may  call 
quantitating  languages,  for  their  system  of  prosody  does  not  seem 
to  differ  much  from  those  of  the  classical  languages. 

No  plausible  cause  can  as  yet  be  assigned  for  the  frequent, 
perhaps  universal,  interchangeability  of  b  with  p,  d  with  t  and  n, 
g  with  k,  Xi  an(i  the  lingual  k,  m  with  b  and  v  (w)t  hh  with  k,  •%  ; 
but  as  there  is  nothing  fortuitous  in  nature  or  in  language,  a 
latent  cause  must  exist  for  this  peculiarity.  No  preceding  or  fol- 
lowing sound  seems  to  have  any  influence  on  this  alternating 
process,  and  the  vowels  alternate  in  a  quite  similar  manner. 

From  these  general  characteristics,  to  which  many  others  could 
be  added,  we  pass  over  to  those  peculiarities  which  are  more  or  less 
specific  to  the  languages  of  the  Pacific  slope.  It  is  not  possible 
to  state  any  absolute,  but  only  some  relative  and  gradual  differ- 
ences between  these  western  tongues  and  those  of  the  east,  of 
which  we  give  the  following  : 

The  generic  difference  of  animate,  inanimate,  and  neuter  nouns, 
is  of  little  influence  on  the  grammatical  forms  of  the  Pacific 
languages.  A  so-called  plural  form  of  the  transitive  and  intran- 
sitive verb  exists  in  Selish  dialects,  in  Klamath,  Mutsun,  San 
Antonio  (probably  also  in  Santa  Barbara),  and  in  the  Shoshoni 
dialects  of  Kauvuya  and  Gaitchin.  Duplication  of  the  entire 


1  Full  and  detailed  information  concerning  the  structure  prevailing  in  American  languages,  will 
be  found  in  Prof.  J.  H.  Trumbull's  article  on  Indian  Languages,  in  Johnson's  New  Cyclopaedia, 
vol.  n.  New  York,  1875. 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES.        425 

root,  or  of  a  portion  of  it,  is  extensively  observed  in  the  forma- 
tion of  frequentative  and  other  derivative  verbs,  of  augmentative 
and  diminutive  nouns,  of  adjectives  (especially  when  designating 
colors),  etc.,  in  the  Selish  and  Sahaptin  dialects,  in  Cayuse,  Yakon, 
Klamath,  Pit  River,  Chokoyem,  Cop-eh,  Cushna,  Santa  Barbara, 
Pima,  and  is  very  frequent  in  the  native  idioms  of  the  Mexican 
states.  The  root  or,  in  its  stead,  the  initial  syllable,  is  redoubled 
regularly,  or  frequently,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  (distribu- 
tive) plural  of  nouns  and  verbs  in  Selish  dialects,  in  Klamath, 
Kizh,  Santa  Barbara,  and  in  the  Mexican  languages  of  the  Pimas, 
Opatas  (including  Heve),  Tarahumaras,  Tepeguanas,  and  Aztecs. 
A  definite  article  the,  or  a  particle  corresponding  to  it  in  many 
respects,  is  appended  to  the  noun,  and  imparts  the  idea  of  actuality 
to  the  verb  in  Sahaptin,  Klamath,  Kizh,  Gaitchin,  Kauvuya, 
Mohave.  In  San  Antonia  this  article  is  placed  before  the  noun. 
The  practice  of  appending  various  classifiers  or  determinatives 
to  the  cardinal  numerals,  to  point  out  the  different  qualities  of 
the  objects  counted,  seems  to  be  general  in  the  Pacific  tongues, 
for  it  can  be  traced  in  the  Selish  proper,  in  the  Nisqualli  (a  western 
Selish  dialect),  in  Yakima,  in  Klamath,  in  Noce  or  Noze,  and  in 
Aztec.  In  De  la  Cuestas'  Mutsun  grammar,  however,  no  men- 
tion is  made  of  this  synthetic  feature. 

The  phonological  facts,  most  generally  observed  throughout 
the  coast  lands,  from  Puget  sound  to  San  Diego,  are  as  follows : 
Absence  of  the  labial  sound  .Fand  of  our  rolling  £  (the  guttural 
kh  or  x,  is  often  erroneously  rendered  by  r) :  comparative  scarcity 
of  the  medial  or  soft  mutes  as  initial  and  final  consonants  of 
words ;  frequency  of  the  k,  or  croaking,  lingual  k,  identical  with 
the  c  castanuelas  of  the  south ;  sudden  stops  of  the  voice  in  the 
midst  of  a  word  or  sentence ;  preponderance  of  clear  and  surd 
vowels  over  nasalized  vowels.  From  all  the  information  obtain- 
able at  present,  we  can  properly  infer  that  all  the  above  mentioned 
peculiarities  will  by  future  investigators  be  discovered  to  exist 
also  in  many  other  tongues  of  our  Pacific  states.  In  the  northern 
sections  the  consonantic  elements  predominate  to  an  enormous 
degree,  sometimes  stifling  the  utterance  of  the  vowels;  many 
southern  tongues,  on  the  contrary,  show  a  tendency  towards 


426  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

vocalism,  though  the  consonantic  frame  of  the  words  is  not  in 
any  instance  disrupted  or  obliterated  by  the  vocalic  element,  as 
we  observe  it  in  Polynesia.  Languages,  with  a  sonorous,  sweet, 
soft,  and  vocalic  utterance,  and  elementary  vocalism,  are  the 
Mohave,  Hualapai,  Meewoc,  Tuolumne  and  Wintoon  (and  Kala- 
pupa  further  north),  while  the  dialects  of  the  Santa  Barbara  stock 
seem  to  occupy  an  intermediate  position  between  the  above  and 
the  northern  languages. 

Unnumbered  tongues  have  in  the  course  of  centuries  disap- 
peared from  the  surface  of  these  western  lands,  and  no  monu- 
ments speak  to  us  of  their  extent,  or  give  a  glimpse  at  the  tribes 
which  used  them.  Many  others  are  on  the  verge  of  extinction  : 
they  are  doomed  to  expire  under  the  overpowering  influx  of  the 
white  race.  Other  languages  labor  under  the  continued  influence 
of  linguistic  corruption  and  intermixture  with  other  stocks,  and 
the  Chinook  jargon  seems  to  make  havoc  among  the  tongues  of 
the  Columbia  river.  To  transmit  these  languages  to  posterity  in 
their  unadulterated  state,  is  not  yet  altogether  impossible  in  the 
decennium  in  which  we  live,  and  would  be  a  highly  meritorious 
undertaking.  It  would  be  equivalent  almost  to  rescuing  these 
remarkable  linguistic  organisms  from  undeserved  oblivion. 

In  the  subsequent  pages  I  attempt  to  give  a  synoptical  survey 
of  our  Pacific  language-stocks  west  of  the  Rocky  mountains  (ex- 
cluding the  pueblos  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona),  based  on  the 
writings  of  such  predecessors  as  George  Gibbs,  Latham,  H.  H. 
Bancroft,  Stephen  Powers,  and  I  have  taken  pains  to  carefully 
compare  their  data  with  the  linguistic  material  available.  For 
obvious  reasons,  I  have  found  myself  frequently  constrained  to 
dissent  from  them,  and  I  claim  the  decision  of  men  of  undoubted 
competency  concerning  the  correctness  of  my  classifications. 

SHOSHONI. —  The  Shoshoni  family  borders  and  encircles  all  the 
other  stocks  of  the  Pacific  slope  of  the  United  States,  on  the 
eastern  side,  and  my  enumeration,  therefore,  commences  with  the 
dialects  of  this  populous  and  widely-scattered  inland  nation.  The 
natives  belonging  to  this  race  occupy  almost  the  whole  surface  of 
the  great  American  inland  basin,  extending  from  the  Rocky 
mountains  to  the  Sierra  Nevada.  To  the  northeast,  and  all  along 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES.        427 

the  western  border,  they  have  crossed  these  towering  land-marks, 
constructed  by  nature  itself,  but  do  not  appear  to  have  interfered 
considerably  with  the  original  distribution  of  the  tribes  in  the 
Californian  valleys  and  mountain  recesses.  The  dispositions 
evinced  by  them  are  more  of  a  passive  and  indolent  than  of  an 
aggressive,  offending  or  implacable  nature,  though  they  are 
savages  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  word ;  some  bands  of  Utahs, 
for  instance,  really  seem  too  low-gifted  ever  to  become  a  cause 
for  dread  to  peaceful  neighbors.  We  do  not  yet  understand  any 
of  their  numerous  dialects  thoroughly,  but  as  far  as  the  southern 
dialects  are  concerned,  a  preponderance  of  surd  and  nasalized  a, 
o  and  u  vowels  over  others  is  undoubted.  They  all  possess  a  form 
for  the  plural  of  the  noun ;  the  Comanche,  even  one  for  the  dual. 
Their  dialects,  are  sketched  in  the  rough,  as  follows  : 

Snake. —  This  dialect  received  its  name  from  the  Shoshoni, 
Lewis  or  Snake  river,  on  whose  shores  one  of  the  principal  bands 
of  Snake  Indians  was  first  seen.  Granville  Stuart,  in  his  Mon- 
tana as  it  is  (New  York,  1865),  gives  the  following  ethnological 
division  :  Washakeeks,  or  Green  river  Snakes,  in  Wyoming :  Took- 
arikkah,  or  Salmon  river  Snakes  (literally,  Mountain-sheep 
eaters),  in  Idaho.  These  two  bands  he  calls  genuine  Snakes. 
Smaller  bands  are  those  of  the  Salt  Lake  Diggers  in  Utah,  the 
Salmon  Eaters  on  Snake  river,  the  root-digging  Bannocks  or  Pa- 
nasht,  on  Boise,  Malheur  and  Owyhee  rivers,  and  a  few  others, 
all  of  whom  differ  somewhat  in  their  mode  of  speech.  Snakes 
of  the  Yahooshkin  and  Walpahpe  bands  were  settled  recently  on 
Klamath  reserve  in  Oregon,  together  with  a  few  Piutes. 

Utah  (  Yutah,  Eutaiv,  Ute  ;  Spanish,  Ayote),  is  spoken  in  various 
dialects  in  parts  of  Utah,  Wyoming  and  Arizona  territories,  and 
in  the  western  desert  regions  of  Colorado,  where  a  reservation 
of  Confederated  Utes  has  been  established,  with  an  area  of 
twelve  millions  of  acres.  To  draw  an  accurate  limit  between  the 
numerous  bands  of  the.  Utahs,  and  those  of  the  Snakes  and 
Payutes  seems  to  be  impossible  at  present,  since  all  of  them  show 
the  same  national  characteristics  ;  I  give  the  names  of  some  of  the 
more  important  bands  of  Utah  Indians,  which  no  doubt  differ 
to  a  certain  degree  in  their  sub-dialects :  Elk  Mountain  Utahs  in 


428  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

southeastern  Utah ;  Pah-  Vants  on  Sevier  lake,  southeast  of  Salt 
lake ;  tiampitches,  on  Sevier  lake  and  in  Sampitch  valley ;  Task- 
Utah  in  northern  Arizona;  Uinta-Utahs  in  Unitah  valley  reserve; 
Weber-  Utahs,  northeast  of  Salt  lake ;  Yampa-  Utahs,  south  of  the 
Uinta-Utahs. 

Payute  —  (Pah-  Utah,  Pi-  Ute  —  literally,  River-Utah  ;  Utah,  as 
spoken  on  Colorado  river),  a  sonorous,  vocalic  dialect,  spoken 
throughout  Nevada,  in  parts  of  Arizona  and  Calitornia.  The 
dialect  of  the  Southern  Payutes  on  Colorado  river  closely  resem- 
bles that  of  the  neighboring  Chemehuevis,  but  differs  materially 
from  that  spoken  in  northern  Nevada,  and  from  the  dialect  of 
Mono  and  Inyo  counties,  California.  Other  Payute  tribes  are 
the  Washoes  and  Gosh-Utes. 

Kauvuya  —  (Cdwio  ;  Spanish,  Cahuillo).  This  branch  of  the 
Shoshoni  stock  prevails  from  the  Cabezon  mountains  and  San 
Bernardino  valley,  California,  down  to  the  Pacific  coast,  and  is 
at  present  known  to  us  in  four  dialects:  Serrano,  or  mountain 
dialect,  spoken  by  Indians,  who  call  themselves  Takhtam,  which 
means  men,  people.  Kauvuya,  in  and  around  San  Bernardino 
valley.  G-aitchin  or  Kechi,  a  coast  dialect  in  use  near  the  mis- 
sions of  San  Juan  Capistrano  and  San  Luis  Rey  de  Francia. 
Netela  is  another  name  for  it.  Kizh,  spoken  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  mission  of  San  Gabriel  by  a  »tribe  calling  itself  Tobikhar,  or 
settlers,  and  of  San  Fernando  mission,  almost  extinct.  The  two 
last  mentioned  dialects  considerably  differ  among  themselves, 
and  from  the  mountain  dialects  of  the  Takhtam  and  Kauvuyas. 

Comanche,  formerly  called  Hietan,  Jetan,  Na-uni,  in  northern 
Texas,  in  New  Mexico  and  in  the  Indian  territory.  They  are 
divided  into  three  principal  sections,  and  their  language  resem- 
bles in  a  remarkable  degree  that  of  the  Snakes. 

Various  Shoshoni  dialects  have  largely  influenced  the  stock  of 
words  of  a  few  idioms,  which  otherwise  are  foreign  to  this  family. 
We  mean  the  Pueblo  idioms  of  New  Mexico,  the  Moqui  of  Ari- 
zona, and  the  Kiowa,  spoken  on  Red  river  and  its  tributaries. 
There  exists  a  deep-seated  connection  between  the  Shoshoni 
stock  and  several  languages  of  northern  Mexico  in  the  radicals^ 
as  well  as  in  the  grammatical  inflections,  which  has  been  pointed 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES.        429 

out  and  proved  in  many  erudite  treatises  by  Professor  T.  C.  E. 
Buschmann,  once  the  collaborator  of  the  two  brothers  Alexander 
and  William  von  Humboldt. 

YUMA. —  The  Indians  of  the  Yuma  stock  are  scattered  along 
the  borders  of  the  Lower  Colorado  and  its  affluents,  the  G-ila 
river  and  the.  Bill  Williams  fork.  Their  name  is  derived  from 
one  of  the  tribes  —  the  Yumas  —  whom  their  neighbors  fre- 
quently call  Cuchans  or  Ko-u-tchans.  Some  dialects,  as  the 
Mohave,  possess  a  large  number  of  sounds  or  phonetic  elements, 
the  English  th  amongst  them,  and  are  almost  entirely  built  up  of 
syllables,  which  contain  but  one  consonant  followed  by  a  vowel. 
The  verb  possesses  a  plural  form.  At  present  we  know  of 
about  seven  dialects  :  Mohave  (Spanish  Mojave),  on  Mohave  river 
and  on  Colorado  river  reservation ;  Hualapai,  on  Colorado  river 
agency  ;  Maricopa,  formerly  Cocomaricopa,  on  Pima  reservation, 
Middle  Gila  river  .  Tonto,  Tonto- Apaches  or  Gohun,  on  Q-ila 
river  and  north  of  it ;  Cocopa,  near  Fort  Yuma  and  south  of  it ; 
Cuchan  or  Yuma,  on  Colorado  river ;  their  former  seats  were 
around  Fort  Yuma ;  Diegeno  and  Comoyei,  around  San  Diego, 
along  the  coast,  on  New  river,  etc. 

Scattered  tribes  are  the  koninos,  and  the  Yavipais  or  Yampais, 
east  of  the  Colorado  river.  The  term  opa,  composing  several  of 
these  tribal  names,  is  taken  from  the  Yuma,  and  means  man; 
the  definite  article  -tch  joined  to  it  forms  the  word  epach  or  Apache, 
man,  men,  people. 

PIMA. —  Dialects  of  this  stock  are  spoken  on  the  middle  course 
of  the  Gila  river,  and  south  of  it  on  the  elevated  plains  of  south- 
ern Arizona  and  northern  Sonora,  (Pimeria  alta,  Pimeria  ba  ja). 
The  Pima  does  not  extend  into  California,  unless  the  extinct, 
historical  Cajuenches,  mentioned  in  Mexican  annals,  spoke  one  of 
the  Pinia  (or  Pijino,  Pimo)  dialects.  Pima,  on  Pima  reserve, 
G-ila  river,  a  sonorous,  root-duplicating  idiom  ;  Ntvome,  a  dialect 
probably  spoken  in  Sonora,  of  which  we  possess  a  reliable  Spanish 
grammar,  published  in  Shea's  Linguistics ;  Pdpago,  on  Papago 
reserve  in  southwestern  Arizona.  The  Pima  language  bears  a 
close  relationship  to  the  various  dialects  of  the  Opata  family 
and  to  a  number  of  languages  spoken  in  the  interior  Mexican 
states. 


430  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

SANTA  BARBARA. —  We  are  not  cognizant  of  any  national  name 
given  to  the  race  of  Indians  who  spoke  the  intricate  dialects  of 
this  language-family.  Its  northern  dialects  differ  as  much  from 
the  southern  as  Minitaree  does  from  Santee-Dakota,  or  Scandi- 
navian from  the  dialects  of  southern  Germany. 

The  southern  dialects  are :  Santa  Inez,  near  Santa  Inez  mis- 
sion; liturgic  specimens,  translations  of  parts  of  catechisms,  etc., 
of  this  dialect,  and  of  that  of  Santa  Barbara  mission,  were  for- 
warded to  the  Smithsonian  Institution  by  Mr.  Alex.  S.  Taylor, 
of  Santa  Barbara  city ;  Santa  Barbara,  around  Santa  Barbara 
mission,  closely  related  to  Kasud  or  Kashwdh,  Spanish  Ciene- 
guita,  three  miles  from  Santa  Barbara  mission ;  Santa  Cruz  island, 
this  dialect  reduplicated  the  root  in  forming  the  plural  of  nouns, 
and  probably  extended  over  the  other  islands  in  its  vicinity  ;  it 
is  extinct  now. 

The  northern  dialects  are  :  San  Louis  Obispo  ;  stock  of  words 
largely  mixed  with  Mutsun  terms.  The  Indian  name  of  the 
locality  was  Tixilini.  San  Antonio,  spoken  at  or  near  San  An- 
tonio mission,  known  to  us  through  Padre  Sitjar's  dictionary. 
The  plural  of  nouns  is  formed  in  more  than  twelve  different 
ways,  and  the  phonology  is  quite  intricate. 

MUTSUN. —  This  name,  of  unknown  signification,  has  been 
adopted  to  designate  a  family  of  dialects  extending  from  the  en- 
virons of  San  Juan  Bautista,  Cal.,  in  a  northwestern  direction 
up  to  and  beyond  the  bay  of  San  Francisco  and  the  straits  of 
Karquines,  in  the  east  reaching  probably  to  San  Joaquin  river. 
It  is  identical  with  the  language  called  Runsien  or  Eumsen,  and 
shows  a  great  development  of  grammatical  forms.  Its  alphabet 
lacks  the  sounds  of  b,  d,f&m\  of  our  rolling  r.  We  can  distin- 
guish the  following  dialects :  San  Juan  Bautista ;  Padre  F. 
Felipe  Arroyo  de  la  Cuesta  has  left  us  a  grammar  and  an  exten- 
sive phraseological  collection  in  this  idiom,  which  were  pub- 
lished by  John  G.  Shea,  in  two  volumes  of  his  Linguistic 
Series.  Mission  of  Carmelo,  near  the  port  of  Monterey;  the 
Eslenes  inhabited  its  surroundings.  Santa  Cruz,  north  of  the 
bay  of  Monterey ;  vocabulary  in  New  York  Historical  Magazine, 
1864  (Feb.),  page  68.  La  Soledad  mission;  if  this  dialect,  of 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES.        431 

whose  grammatical  structure  we  know  nothing,  really  belongs 
to  the  Mutsun  stock,  it  is  at  least  largely  intermixed  with  San 
Antonio  elements.  The  tribe  living  around  the  mission  was 
called  Sakhones.  Costano,  on  the  bay  of  San  Francisco,  spoken 
by  the  five  extinct  tribes  of  the  Ahwastes,  Olhones,  Altahmos,  Ro- 
monans,  Tulomos.  See  Schoolcraft's  Indians,  vol.  n,  page  494. 

Under  the  heading  of  "  Mutsun  "  I  subjoin  here  a  series  of 
dialects  spoken  north  of  the  bay  of  San  Francisco,  which  judg- 
ing from  the  large  number  of  Mutsun  words,  probably  belong 
to  this  stock,  but  show  also  a  large  amount  of  Chocuyem  words, 
which  dialect  is  perhaps  not,  according  to  our  present  informa- 
tion, a  Mutsun  dialect.  This  point  can  be  decided  only  when 
its  grammatical  elements,  as  verbal  inflection,  etc.,  will  be 
ascertained. 

The  dialects,  showing  affinities  with  Mutsun,  are  as  follows : 
Olamentke,  spoken  on  the  former  Russian  colony  about  Bodega 
bay,  Marin  Co.;  vocabulary  in  Wrangell,  Nachrichten,  etc., 
St.  Petersburg,  1839,  and  reprinted  by  Prof.  Buschmann.  San 
Rafael  mission,  Marin  Co.  Vocabulary  taken  by  Mr.  Dana; 
printed  in  Hale's  Report  of  Exploring  Expedition,  and  in  Trans- 
actions of  American  Ethnological  Society,  n,  page  128 ;  the  words 
are  almost  identical  with  those  of  Chocuyem.  Talatui  or  Talantui, 
on  Kassima  river,  an  eastern  tributary  of  the  Sacramento,  is 
clearly  a  dialect  of  Chocuyem;  vocabulary  by  Dana,  Tr.  Am. 
Ethn.  Soc.,  vol.  ii.  Chokuyem  or  Tchokoyem  was  the  name  of 
a  small  tribe  once  inhabiting  Marin  county,  north  of  the  Golden 
Gate.  Their  language  extended  across  San  Antonio  creek  into 
Sonoma  valley,  Sonoma  Co.  G.  Gibbs's  vocabulary  published  in 
Schoolcraft,  in,  428-sq,  discloses  the  singular  fact  that  almost  all 
Chocuyem  words  are  dissyllabic,  and  frequently  begin  and  termi 
nate  in  vowels.  A  Lord's  prayer  in  Chocuyem  was  published 
in  Duflot  de  Mofras'  Explorations,  n,  390,  and  reproduced  by 
Bancroft ;  the  name  of  the  tribe  living  around  the  mission  of 
San  Rafael  was  Youkiousme,  which  does  not  sound  very  alike, 
nor  very  different  from  Chocuyem.  Some  of  the  more  im- 
portant terms  agreeing  in  the  Chocuyem  and  in  the  Mutsun  of 
San  Bautista,  are  as  follows  : 


ENGLISH. 

CHOCUYEM 

head 

mdloh 

teeth 

ki-iht 

foot 
house 

coyok 
kotcha 

white 
black 

pahkiss 
mulut& 

I,  myself 
thou 

kani 
mi 

two 

osha 

father 
mother 

api 
enu 

432  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

MUT8UN. 

mogel 

sit,  si-it 
coro 

kuka,  ruca 
palcasmin 
humulusmin 
can 
men 
utsgin 
appa 
an  an 

The  supposition  that  the  Chocuyem  belongs  to  the  Mutsun 
stock  is  greatly  strengthened  by  the  mutual  correspondence  of 
these  terms,  but  cannot  be  stated  yet  as  existing  on  this  ground 
alone,  for  the  terms  for  most  numerals,  parts  of  human  body, 
and  those  for  fire,  water,  earth,  sun,  moon  and  star  disagree 
entirely. 

The  Chocuyem  stock  probably  included  also  the  Petaluma  or 
Yolhios,  as  well  as  the  Tomalo  and  other  dialects  spoken  beyond 
the  northern  limit  of  Marin  county.  From  a  notice  published 
by  Alex.  S.  Taylor,  Esq.,  we  learn  that  Padre  Quijas,  in  charge 
of  Sonoma  mission  from  1835  to  1842,  composed  an  extensive 
dictionary  of  the  idiom  spoken  in  the  vicinity  of  this  religious 
establishment. 

YOCUT. —  This  tribe  lives  in  the  Kern  and  Tulare^  basins,  and 
on  the  middle  course  of  the  San  Joaquin  river.  Consolidated  in 
1860  into  one  coherent  body  by  their  chief,  Pascual,  the  Yocuts 
show  more  national  solidarity  than  any  other  California  nation. 
In  the  Overland  Monthly,  Mr.  Stephen  Powers  gave  a  sketch  of 
this  remarkable  tribe,  and  described  at  length  one  of  their  terrific 
nocturnal  weeping  dances,  called  Kotewachil.  The  following 
tribes  and  settlements  may  be  mentioned  here  :  Taches  ( Tatches), 
around  Kingston ;  Chewenee,  in  Squaw  valley ;  Watooga,  on  King's 
river ;  Chookchancies,  in  several  villages  ;  a  King's  river  tribe,  whose 
vocabulary  is  mentioned  in  Schoolcraft's  Indians,  vol.  iv,  413- 
414 ;  Coconoons,  on  Merced  river ;  their  vocabulary  in  School- 
craft,  iv,  413  ;  a  tribe  formerly  living  at  Dent's  Ferry,  on  Stan- 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES.        433 

islaus  river,  in  the  Sierra  Nevada  of  Calaveras  county,  vocabulary 
given  by  Alex.  S.  Taylor  in  his  California  Farmer.  In  former  years 
many  individuals  of  the  Yocut  nation  were  carried  as  captives  to 
San  Luis  Obispo,  on  the  coast,  and  were  put  to  work  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  mission. 

Mrnr.voc. — Stephen  Powers  (Overland  Monthly,  April,  1873),  calls 
the  Meewoc  tribe  the  largest  in  California  in  population,  and  in 
extent.  "  Their  ancient  dominion  reached  from  the  snow-line  of 
the  Sierra  ISTevada  to  the  San  Joaquin  river,  and  from  the  06- 
sumnes  to  the  Fresno  :  mountains,  valleys  and  plains  were  thickly 
peopled."  Bands  of  this  tribe  lived  in  a  perfectly  naked  state  in 
the  Yosemite  valley,  when  this  spot  first  carne  into  notice.  The 
language  is  very  homogeneous  for  a  stretch  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles,  and  the  radicals  and  words  are  remarkably  vocalic. 
Meewoc,  mi-ua,  mivie,  is  the  word  for  Indian,  and  osoamit, 
whence  Yosemite,  which  means  the  grizzly  bear  ;  wakdlumni  is  a 
river,  hence  Mokelumne  was  formed  by  corruption ;  kossumi 
a  salmon,  hence  Cosumnes  river.  Some  of  the  Meewoc  bands 
were  called  by  the  following  names,  which  probably  repre- 
sent as  many  dialects  or  sub-dialects  :  Choomteyas,  on  middle 
Merced  river ;  Cawnees,  on  Cosumne  river ;  Yulonees,  on  Sutter 
creek :  Awnaees  in  Yosemite  valley ;  Chowchillas,  on  middle 
Chowchilla  river ;  Tu6lumne,  on  Tuolumne  river.  Their  vocabu- 
lary was  taken  by  Adam  Johnson,  and  published  in  Schoolcraft's 
Indians,  iv,  413.  Four  Creek  Indians ;  vocabulary  published  in 
the  San  Francisco  Wide  West  in  July,  1856,  under  the  name  of 
Kahweyah,  but  differing  considerably  in  the  words  given  by  Mr. 
Powers.  Some  further  Meewoc  bands  are  called  after  the  car- 
dinal points  of  the  compass. 

MEIDOO. —  The  Meidoo  nation  formerly  extended  from  Sacra- 
mento river  to  the  snow-line,  and  from  Big  Chico  creek  to  Bear 
river,  the  cognate  Neeshenams  from  Bear  river  to  the  Cosumnes, 
where  the  language  changed  abruptly.  The  Meidoos  are  a  joyful, 
merry  and  dance-loving  race.  Their  language  is  largely  made 
up  of  vocalic  elements  ;  vowels  and  ri's  terminate  more  than  one- 
half  of  their  words.  We  possess  vocabularies  of  the  following 
bands  :  Yuba,  opposite  the  mouth  of  Yuba  river,  a  tributary  of 
29 


434  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Feather  river.  A  collection  of  some  forty  words  was  made  by 
Lieut.  Edward  Ross,  and  published  in  Historical  Magazine  of  New 
York,  1863,  page  123.  Cushna,  on  mountains  of  South  Yuba 
river,  Nevada  county.  Vocabulary  by  Adam  Johnson,  an  Indian 
agent,  published  in  Schoolcraft,  u,  page  494.  Pujuni,  or  Bush- 
u nines,  on  western  bank  of  Sacramento  river ;  Secumnes,  also  west 
of  Sacramento  river.  Short  vocabularies  of  both  dialects  were 
collected  by  Mr.  Dana,  and  reprinted  in  Tr.  Am.  Ethnol.  Soc., 
vol.  II.  Neeshenam,  south  of  Bear  river ;  Powers  separates  them 
as  a  distinct  nation  from  the  Meidoos  ;  but  from  the  words  given, 
it  appears  that  both  speak  dialects  of  the  same  language.  Their 
bands  are  partly  called  after  the  points  of  the  compass.  Of  other 
Meidoo  tribes  or  bands,  we  mention  the  Otdkumne  in  the  Otakey 
settlement;  the  Ollas,  opposite  mouth  of  Bear  river,  and  the 
Concows  or  Cancows,  in  Concow  valley.  Mr.  Powers  gives  the 
names  of  about  a  dozen  more.  Perhaps  the  little  tribe  of  the 
undersized  Noces  or  Nozes,  in  Round  mountain,  Oak  run  and 
vicinity,  should  be  classified  here,  because  a  few  of  their  numerals, 
which  almost  all  end  in  mona,  agree  with  those  of  the  Cushnas. 
Mr.  Powers  supposes  these  and  the  ferocious  Mill  Creek  Indians 
to  be  of  foreign  origin. 

WINTOON. — The  timid,  superstitious,  and  grossly  sensual  race  of 
the  Wintoons  is  settled  on  both  sides  of  upper  Sacramento  and 
upper  Trinity  rivers,  and  is  found  also  on  the  lower  course  of 
Pit  river.  Stephen  Powers  calls  their  language  rich  in  forms 
and  synonyms ;  the  dialect  studied  by  Oscar  Loew  forms  the 
plurals  of  its  nouns  by  means  of  a  final  -t  preceded  by  a  redupli- 
cated vowel  of  the  root.  Loew's  vocabulary,  published  with  one 
of  the  Uinta-U.tah  and  thirteen  others  by  the  author  of  this  article 
in  his  recent  publication,  Zwolf  Sprachen  aus  dem  Sudwesten 
Nord-Amerikas  ;  Weimar,  1876  (150  pages),  offers  a  few  words 
of  very  difficult  guttural  pronunciation;  but  in  general  the  lan- 
guage (called  Digger  in  that  vocabulary)  is  of  a  soft  and  sonorous 
character. 

Some  of  the  more  noteworthy  Wintoon  tribes  are  as  follows  : 
Dowpum  Wintoons,  on  Cottonwood  creek,  the  nucleus  of  this 
race  :  Noemocs  or  southern  people ;  Poomeocs  or  eastern  people ; 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES.        435 

Nome  Lake.es  or  western  talkers  ;  Wikainmocs,  on  extreme 
upper  Trinity  river  and  Scott  mountain ;  Normocs,  on  Hay 
Fork ;  Tehdmas,  near  Tehama  Town ;  Mag  Reading  Wintoons  : 
vocabulary  taken  about  1852,  by  Adam  Johnson,  and  pub- 
lished in  Schoolcraft,  iv,  p.  414.  Cop-eh.  A  tribe  of  this  name 
was  found  at  the  head  of  Putos  creek,  the  words  of  which  are 
mostly  dissyllabic,  and  partake  of  the  vocalic  nature  of  southern 
languages. 

Stephen  Powers  calls  by  the  name  Patween  a  race  inhabiting 
the  west  side  of  the  middle  and  lower  Sacramento,  Cache  and 
Putos  creek,  and  Napa  valley.  Physically,  the  Patweens  do  not 
differ  from  the  Wintoons.  Their  complexion  varies  from  brassy 
bronze  to  almost  jet-black,  they  walk  pigeon-toed,  and  have  very 
small  and  depressed  heads,  the  arch  over  their  eyes  forming 
sometimes  a  sharp  ridge.  They  are  socially  disconnected  and 
have  no  common  name  ;  but  their  language  does  not  differ  much 
in  its  dialects,  and  belongs,  as  far  as  we  are  acquainted  with  it, 
to  the  Wintoon  stock.  Powers  (Overland  Monthly,  December, 
1874,  p.  542,  sqq.)  classes  under  this  heading  a  number  of  clans 
or  bands,  of  which  we  mention  :  —  Saisuns,  in  Suisun  valley, 
Solano  Co. ;  Ululatos,  in  Ulatus  creek,  near  Vacaville  :  Lewytos 
and  Putos,  in  Putos  creek;  Napas,  in  Napa  valley  ;  Lolsels,  east 
of  Clear  lake  ;  Corusies,  near  Colusa,  on  Sacramento  river;  Chen- 
posels,  on  Cache  creek  .  Noyukies,  inter-married  with  Wintoons, 
on  Stony  creek.  Guilulos  or  G-uillilas,  in  Sonora  valley.  A 
Lord's  prayer  given  in  their  dialect,  by  Duflot  de  Mofras,  11,  p. 
391,  differs  entirely  from  the  Chocuyem,  hence  the  Guilulo  may 
belong  to  the  Patween  stock.  The  words  of  the  Napa  root-dig- 
gers, collected  by  Major  Bartlett,  and  another  vocabulary  of  the 
Napa  have  not  yet  been  published  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 

YUKA. —  The  Yuka  or  Uka  language  extends  over  a  long  and 
narrow  strip  of  territory  parallel  for  a  hundred  miles  to  the  Porno 
dialects  and  the  coast,  in  and  along  the  coast  range.  The 
area  of  the  Porno  language,  however,  breaks  across  that  of 
the  Yuka  from  the  west  at  Ukiah  and  surrounds  Clear  lake. 
The  revengeful  race  of  the  Yukas,  who  are  conspicuous  by  very 
large  heads  placed  on  smallish  bodies,  originally  dwelt  in  Round 


436  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

valley,  east  of  Upper  Eel  river.  Nome  Cult,  meaning  western 
tribe,  is  the  Wintoon  name  for  this  solitary  and  fertile  valley, 
which  has  become  the  seat  of  an  Indian  reservation.  Of  the 
Yuka  we  have  a  short  vocabulary  by  Lieut.  Edward  Ross  in  New 
York  Historical  Magazine  for  April,  1863.  Surd  vowels,  perhaps 
nasalized,  are  frequent ;  also  the  ending  -um,  -un,  which  is  pro- 
bably the  plural  termination  of  nouns.  No  connection  with  the 
Chokuyen  is  perceptible,  but  a  faint  resemblance  with  the  Cushna 
can  be  traced  in  a  few  words.  Other  tribes  speaking  Yuka  are 
the  Ashochemies  or  Wappos,  formerly  inhabiting  the  mountain 
tract  from  the  Geysers  down  to  Calistoga  Hot  springs ;  the  Shu- 
meias,  at  the  head  of  Eel  river ;  and  the  Tahtoos,  on  the  middle 
and  south  forks  of  Eel  river,  and  at  the  head  of  Potter  valley. 

POMO. —  The  populous,  unoffending  Porno  race  is  settled  along 
the  coast,  on  Clear  lake  and  on  the  heads  of  Eel  and  Russian 
rivers ;  a  portion  of  them  now  inhabit  the  reservation  of  Round 
valley,  together  with  their  former  tormentors,  the  Yukas.  Those 
of  the  interior  show  more  intelligence  and  a  stronger  physical 
constitution  than  the  coast  Pomos.  The  Cahto  Pomos  and  the 
Ki  Pomos,  on  Eel  river,  have  adopted  the  Tinne  dialect  of  the 
Wi  Lakee,  which  is  closely  allied  to  the  Hoopa.  Powers  considers 
as  the  nucleus  of  the  numerous  Porno  tribes  the  Pome  Pomos,  liv- 
ing in  Potter  valley,  a  short  distance  northwest  of  Clear  lake.  The 
language  rapidly  changes  from  valley  to  valley;  but  the  majority 
of  the  dialects  are  sonorous,  and  the  vocalic  element  preponderates. 

"We  enumerate  the  following  bands  :  —  Pome  Pomos,  earth  peo- 
ple, in  Potter  valley.  Ballo  Ki  Pomos,  Wild  Oat  valley  people, 
in  Potter  valley.  Choan  Chadela  Pomos,  Pine-pitch  people,  in 
Redwood  valley.  Matomey  Ki  Pomos,  Wooded  valley  people, 
around  Little  lake.  Usals  or  Camalbl  Pomas,  on  Usal  creek. 
Shebalne  Pomos,  neighbor  people,  in  Sherwood  valley.  G-allino- 
meros,  below  Healdsburg ;  a  few  grammatical  informations  given 
in  H.  H.  Bancroft's  Native  Races,  vol.  in,  part  second.  Yuka-i 
or  U/tiah,  on  Russian  river  (not  to  be  confounded  with  Yuka  in 
Round  valley) ;  vocabulary  by  G.  Gibbs  in  Schoolcraft,  vol.  in 
(1853).  Choweshak,  at  the  head  of  Eel  river  ;  Gibbs's  vocabulary 
in  Schoolcraft,  in,  pp.  434,  sqq.  Batemdikaie,  at  the  head  of  Eel 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES.        437 

river,  called  after  the  valley  in  which  they  live :  vocabulary  in 
Schoolcraft,  in,  434,  sqq.  Kulanapo,  on  southwest  shore  of  Clear 
lake;  vocabulary  in  Schoolcraft,  in,  428.  Bancroft  has  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  many  words  of  this  and  other  dialects, 
spoken  south  of  it,  correspond  to  Polynesian  and  Malay  terms, 
but  on  account  of  the  uncertain  nature  of  Oceanic  consonantism, 
he  is  unwilling  to  draw  any  ethnological  deductions  from  this 
coincidence.  Kulanapo  agrees  pretty  closely  with  Choweshah  and 
Batemdikaie,  but  differs  somewhat  from  Chwachamaju.  Chwa- 
fhamaju,  to  the  north  of  Bodega  bay.  The  words  in  "Wrangell's 
vocabulary  (see  Olamentke,  mutsuri)  appear  to  agree  more  closely 
with  Yuka-i  than  with  any  other  Porno  dialect. 

WISHOSK. —  Spoken  on  a  very  small  area  around  the  mouth  of 
the  Eel  river,  on  the  seacoast,  and  called  so  from  the  Indian  name 
for  Eel  river.  We  know  of  two  sub-dialects  almost  entirely  iden- 
tical, and  showing  a  rather  consonantic  word-structure.  Vocabu- 
laries were  collected  with  care  by  George  Gibbs,  and  published 
in  Schoolcraft,  in,  p.  422.  Weeyot,  or  Veeard,  on  mouth  of  Eel 
river ;  Wishosk  on  northern  part  of  Humboldt  bay,  near  mouth 
of  Mad  river;  Patawat,  identical  with  G.  Gibbs's  Kowilth,  or 
Koquilth  ;  and  about  a  dozen  other  settlements  speaking  dialects 
of  the  same  language. —  Proceeding  through  the  basin  of  the 
Klamath  river,  we  meet  with  a  number  of  small,  socially  inco- 
herent, bands  of  natives  engaged  in  salmon  or  trout  fishing  on 
the  shores  of  this  stream  and  of  its  tributaries.  Some  do  not 
possess  any  tribal  name,  or  name  for  their  common  language, 
and  were  in  a  bulk  called  Klamath  river  Indians,  in  contradis- 
tinction to  the  Klamath  lake  Indians,  E-ukshiknit  on  the  head 
of  Klamath  river.  These  latter  I  call  here  Klamaths. 

EUROK. —  The  Euroc  tribe  inhabits  both  banks  of  the  Klamath 
river,  from  its  mouth  up  to  the  Great  bend  at  the  influx  of  the 
Trinity  river.  The  name  simply  means  down  (down  the  river), 
and  another  name  given  them  by  their  neighbors,  Pohlik,  means 
nearly  the  same.  Their  settlements  frequently  have  three  or 
four  names.  Requa  is  the  village  at  the  mouth  of  the  Klamath 
river,  from  which  they  set  out  when  fishing  at  sea.  The  language 
sounds  rough  and  guttural ;  the  vowels  are  surd,  and  often  lost 


438  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

between  the  consonants,  as  in  mrpr,  nose ;  chlh,  chlec,  earth  ; 
wrh-yenex,  child.  In  conversation,  the  Eurocs  terminate  many 
words  by  catching  sound  (-h'-)  with  a  grunt :  with  other  Indians 
we  observe  this  less  frequently.  They  are  of  darker  complexion 
than  the  Cahroks,  and  in  1870  numbered  2,700  individuals  in 
the  short  stretch  of  forty  miles  along  the  river. 

WEITS-PEK. —  In  Schoolcraft  we  find  a  vocabulary  named  after 
the  Indian  encampment  at  Weits-pek,  a  few  miles  above  the 
great  bend  of  Klamath  river,  on  the  north  shore,  whose  words 
totally  disagree  from  Eurok,  Cahrok,  Shasta,  or  any  other  neigh- 
boring tongue. 

CAHROK. —  Cahrok,  or  Carrook,  is  not  a  tribal,  but  simply  a  con- 
ventional name,  meaning  above,  upwards  (up  the  Klamath  river, 
as  Eurok  means  down,  and  Modoc  —  probably  —  at  the  head  of 
the  river).  The  Cahrok  tribe  extends  along  Klamath  river  from 
Bluff  creek,  near  Weits-pek,  to  Indian  creek,  a  distance  of 
eighty  miles.  Pehtsik  is  a  local  name  for  a  part  of  the  Cahroks  ; 
another  section  of  them,  living  at  the  junction  of  Klamath  and 
Salmon  (or  Quoratem)  rivers,  go  by  the  name  of  Ehnek.  Stephen 
Powers  thinks  that  the  Cahroks  are  probably  the  finest  tribe  in 
California ;  that  their  language  much  resembles  the  Spanish  in 
utterance,  and  is  not  so  guttural  as  the  Euroc.  In  Schoolcraft 
we  find  vocabularies  from  both  tribes. 

TOLEWA. —  The  few  words  of  the  Tolewa,  or  Tahlewah  language 
on  Smith  river,  between  Klamath  and  Rogue  rivers,  which  were 
given  to  G.  Gibbs  by  an  unreliable  Indian  from  another  tribe, 
show  a  rough  and  guttural  character,  and  differ  entirely  in  their 
radicals  from  any  other  language  spoken  in  the  neighborhood. 

SHASTA. —  At  the  time  of  the  Rogue  river  war  the  Shastas,  or 
Shasteecas,  became  involved  in  the  rebellion  of  their  neighbors, 
and  after  their  defeat  the  warriors  of  both  tribes  were  removed, 
with  their  families,  to  the  Grand  Ronde  and  Siletz  reserves  in 
Oregon.  Hence,  they  almost  entirely  disappeared  from  their  old 
homes  in  the  Shasta  and  Scott  valleys,  which  are  drained  by 
affluents  of  the  Klamath  river,  and  also  from  their  homes  on 
Klamath  river,  from  Clear  creek  upwards.  Nouns  form  their 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES.        439 

plurals  by  adding  oggara,  ukara,  many,  and  the  language  does 
not  sound  disagreeably  to  our  ears.  We  know  this  vocalic 
tongue  only  through  a  few  words,  collected  by  Dana  ;  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution  owns  three  vocabularies.  The  Scott's  valley 
band  was  called  Watsahewa ;  the  names  of  other  bands  were 
T-ka,  Iddoa,  Hoteday,  We-ohow. 

PIT  RIVER. —  The  Pit  river  Indians,  a  poor  and  very  abject-look- 
ing lot  of  natives,  live  on  upper  Pit  river  and  its  side  creeks.  In 
former  years  they  suffered  exceedingly  from  the  raids  of  the 
Modocs  and  Klamath  lakes,  who  kidnapped  and  kept  them  as 
slaves,  or  sold  them  at  the  slave-market  at  Yanex  in  southern 
Oregon.  Like  the  Pomos  and  most  other  Californians,  they 
regard  and  worship  the  coyote-wolf  as  the  creator  and  benefactor 
of  mankind.  Powers  calls  their  language  "  hopelessly  conso- 
nantal, harsh  and  sesquipedalian,  very  unlike  the  sweet  and 
simple  tongues  of  the  Sacramento  river."  Redoubling  of  the 
root  seems  to  prevail  here  to  a  large  extent.  A  few  words  from 
a  sub-dialect  are  given  by  Mr.  Bancroft,  which  do  not  differ 
materially  from  the  Palaik  (or  mountaineer)  vocabulary  printed 
in  Transactions  of  Am.  EthnoL  Soc.,  vol.  n,  p.  98.  After  a 
military  expedition  to  their  country,  General  Crook  ordered  a 
removal  of  many  individuals  of  this  tribe  to  the  Round  valley 
reserve,  where  they  are  now  settled.  Pu-su,  Pu-isu  is  the  'Win- 
toon  name  of  the  Pit  river  Indians,  meaning  eastern  people. 
According  to  Mr.  Powers's  statement  (Overland  Monthly,  1874,  pp. 
412,  sgg.),  the  Pit  river  Indians  are  sub-divided  in  :  Achomdwes 
in  the  Fall  river  basin  ;  from  achoma  river,  meaning  Pit  river. 
Hamefcuttelies,  in  Big  valley.  Astahaywas  or  Astakyivich,  in  Hot 
spring  valley;  from  astakay,  hot  spring.  Illmawes,  opposite 
Fort  Crook,  south  side  of  Pit  river.  Pdcamallies,  on  Hat  creek. 

KLAMATH. —  The  watershed  between  the  Sacramento  and  Col- 
umbia river  basin  consists  of  a  broad  and  mountainous  table- 
land rising  to  an  average  height  of  four  to  five  thousand  feet, 
and  embellished  by  beautiful  sheets  of  fresh  water.  The  central 
part  of  this  plateau  is  occupied  by  the  Klamath  reservation, 
which  includes  lakes,  prairies,  volcanic  ledges,  and  is  the  home 
of  the  Klamath  stock  of  Indians,  who  inhabit  it  together  with 


440  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

the  two  Shoshoni  tribes  mentioned  above.  Tbe  nation  calls  itself 
(and  other  Indians)  Mdklaks.  the  encamped,  the  settlers,  a 
term  which  has  been  transcribed  into  English  Muckalueks, 
and  ought  to  include  all  the  four  divisions  given  below.  About 
145  Modocs  were,  after  the  Modoc  war  of  1873,  removed  to 
Quapaw  agency,  Indian  territory.  The  language  is  rich  in 
words  and  synonyms,  only  slightly  polysynthetic,  and  lacks  the 
sounds  /  and  r.  They  divide  themselves  into :  Klamaths  or 
Klamath  Lakes,  E-ukshikni,  from  e-ush,  lake  ;  on  Big  Klamath 
lake.  Modocs  originally  inhabiting  the  shores  of  Little  Klamath 
lake,  now  at  Yanex.  The  Pit  Rivers  call  them  Liituam  ;  and 
they  call  the  Pit  Rivers,  Moatuash  or  southern  dwellers. 
Kombatuash,  grotto  or  cave  dwellers,  from  their  abode  in  the 
Lava  Bed  caves — a  medley  of  different  races.  Some  Molele  or 
Molale,  renegades  of  the  Cayuse  tribe,  have  recently  become 
mixed  with  Rogue  Rivers  and  Klamaths,  and  have  adopted  the 
Klamath  language  in  consequence.  JSTo  Klamath  sub-dialects 
exist,  the  idioms  of  all  these  tribes  being  almost  identical. 
Klamaths  and  other  southern  Oregonians  communicate  with 
other  tribes  by  means  of  the  Chinook  jargon. 

THE  TINNE  FAMIY.—  The  Tinne  family  of  languages,  which 
extends  from  the  inhospitable  shores  of  the  Yukon  and  Mackenzie 
rivers  to  Fraser  river,  and  almost  to  Hudson's  bay,  sent  in  by- 
gone centuries  a  powerful  offshoot  to  the  Rio  Grande  del  Norte 
and  the  Gila  rivers,  now  represented  by  the  Apache,  Lipan  and 
Navajo.  Other  fragments  of  the  Tinne  stock,  represented  by  less 
populous  tribes,  wandered  south  of  the  Columbia  river,  and 
settled  on  the  coast  of  the  Pacific  ocean ;  they  were  the 
Kwalhioqua,  Tlatskanai,  Umpqua,  Rogue  Rivers  (or  Rascal 
Indians)  and  the  Hoopa.  Following  them  up  in  the  direction 
from  south  to  north,  we  begin  with  the  Hoopa. 

Hoopa. —  The  populous  and  compact  Hoopa  (or  better,  Hiipo) 
tribe  has  its  habitation  on  the  Trinity,  near  its  influx  into  Klamath 
river,  California,  and  for  long  years  kept  in  awe  and  submission 
the  weaker  part  of  the  surrounding  tribes  and  clans,  exacting 
tributes,  and  even  forcing  their  language  upon  some  of  them,  as 
upon  the  Chimalaquays  on  New  river,  the  Kailtas  on  Redwood 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES.        441 

creek,  and  upon  the  two  Porno  bands  above  mentioned.  Powers 
holds  their  language  to  be  copious  in  words,  robust,  strong  in 
utterance,  and  of  martial  simplicity  and  rudeness.  The  Wylakies, 
or,  Wi  Lahees,  near  the  western  base  of  Shasta  butte,  speak  a 
Hoopa  dialect.  No  information  is  at  hand  to  decide  whether 
the  Lassies  on  Mad  river,  the  Tahahteens  on  Smith  river,  and  a 
few  other  tribes,  speak,  as  the  assumption  is,  Tinne  dialects  or  not. 
Rogue  River. —  The  Tototen,  Tootooten,  or  Tatutamys  tribe,  living 
on  Rogue  river  and  its  numerous  side  creeks,  Oregon,  speaks  a 
language  which  is,  like  the  majority  of  Oregonian  and  northern 
tongues,  replete  of  guttural  and  croaking  sounds.  According  to 
Dr.  Hubbard,  whose  vocabulary  is  published  in  Taylor's  California 
Farmer,  this  nation  comprised  in  1856  thirteen  bands,  consisting 
in  all  of  1,205  individuals.  (See  article  Shasta.)  The  appearance 
of  the  numerals,  the  terms  for  the  parts  of  the  human  frame, 
many  other  nouns  and  the  pronoun,  mine,  my  (ho,  hwo, 
hu),  induced  me  to  compare  them  with  the  Tinne  languages. 
They  differ  considerably  from  Hoopa  and  Taculli,  but  singularly 
agree  with  Apache  and  Navajo,  and  Tototen  has,  therefore,  to  be 
introduced  as  a  new  offshoot  of  the  coast  branch  into  the  great 
Tinne  or  Athapascan  family  of  languages.  The  Smithsonian 
Institution  owns  two  vocabularies,  inscribed  "  Rogue  River," 
two  "  Tootooten,"  and  one  "  Toutouten." 

Umpqua. —  The  Umpquas  live  in  and  around  Alsea  sub-agency, 
on  the  sea  coast,  together  with  the  Alsea,  Sayustkla  and  Coos 
Indians.  Their  idiom  is  softer  than  the  other  branches  of  the 
Tinne  stock.  Further  north  we  find  two  other  small  tribes  of 
the  same  origin,  whose  languages  were  studied  only  by  Horatio 
Hale,  of  Wilkes's  exploring  expedition.  One  of  them  was  the 
Tlatskanai,  south  of  Columbia  river ;  the  other,  the  Kwalhioqua, 
at  the  outlet  of  this  stream,  both  extremely  guttural.  On  account 
of  the  smallness  of  the  tribes  speaking  them,  these  idioms  have 
probably  become  extinct ;  their  owners  merged  into  other  tribes, 
and  were  identified  with  them  beyond  recognition.  They  roved 
in  the  mountains  at  some  distance  from  the  coast  and  the 
Columbia,  living  on  game,  berries  and  esculent  roots. 

YAKON. —  Before  1848,  the  Yakon  tribe  was  settled  on  the 


442  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Oregon  coast,  south  of  the  Tillamuks,  numbering  then  about 
seven  hundred  individuals.  In  the  collection  of  fifty  Yakon 
words,  given  in  Transactions  of  Am.  Ethn.  Soc.,  n,  part  2d,  pp. 
9^  sqq.,  we  discover  very  few  monosyllables,  but  many  clusters 
of  consonants,  not  easily  pronounced  by  English  speaking  people, 
as  kwofyl,  fingers  ;  pusunt^l^a,  three. 

CAYUSE. —  The  national  appellation  of  the  Cayuses,  whose  home 
is  in  the  valley  of  Des  Chutes  river,  Oregon,  is  Wayiletpu,  the 
plural  form  of  Wa-ttet,  one  Cayuse  man.  The  Wayiletpu 
formerly  were  divided  into  Cayuses  and  Moleles,  but  the  latter 
separated,  went  south  and  joined  other  tribes  (see  Klamath),  or 
were  removed  to  the  Grande  Ronde  reserve.  The  Cayuses  are 
rapidly  assimilating,  or  identifying  themselves,  with  the  Wala- 
walas  on  and  around  Umatilla  agency,  about  seventy  miles  east 
of  Des  Chutes  river  outlet,  and  a  majority  of  them  has  forgotten 
already  their  paternal  idiom.  Judging  from  the  Cayuse  words 
printed  in  the  Transactions  of  Am.  Ethn.  Society,  n,  p.  97,  this 
language  prefers  consonantic  to  vocalic  endings,  and  possesses 
the  aspirates  th  and/.  The  occurrence  of  both  sounds,  especially 
of/,  is  not  uncommon  in  Oregonian  languages. 

KALAPUYA. —  The  original  seats  of  this  tribe  were  in  the  upper 
Willamette  valley.  The  laws  of  euphony  are  numerous  in  this 
language,  whose  utterance  is  soft  and  harmonious;  thus  it  forms 
a  remarkable  contrast  with  all  the  surrounding  languages,  the 
sounds  of  which  are  uttered  with  considerable  pectoral  exertion. 
The  personal  pronoun  is  used  also  as  a  possessive ;  no  special  ter- 
mination exists  for  the  dual  or  plural  of  nouns.  Yamkalli,  on 
head  of  Willamette  river,  is  a  dialect  of  Kalapuya. 

CHINOOK. —  The  populous,  Mongol-featured  nation  of  the  Chi- 
nooks  once  dwelt  on  both  sides  of  the  Lower  Columbia ;  but 
after  the  destruction  of  four-fifths  of  their  number  in  1823  by  a 
terrible  fever-epidemy,  a  part  of  the  survivors  settled  north,  and 
now  gradually  disappear  among  the  Chehalis.  The  pronun- 
ciation is  very  indistinct,  the  croakings  in  lower  part  of  the 
throat  frequent,  the  syntaxis  is  represented  as  being  a  model  of 
intricacy.  To  confer  with  the  Lower,  the  Upper  Chinooks  had 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES.        443 

to  use  interpreters,  although  the  language  of  both  is  of  the  same 
lineage.  The  dialects  and  tribes  were  distributed  as  follows  : 
Lower  Chinook,  from  mouth  of  Columbia  river  up  to  Multnomah 
island,  Clatsop ;  Chinook  proper ;  Wakiakum ;  Katlamat.  Mid- 
dle Chinook  —  Multnomah,  Skilloot.  Upper  Chinook  —  "Watlala 
or  Wafylala,  showing  a  dual  and  a  plural  form  in  the  inflection 
of  the  noun;  Klakamat,  south-east  of  Portland,  a  tribe  once  dis- 
possessed of  its  homes  by  the  Moleles  ;  the  idiom  of  the  Cascade 
Indians,  and  of  the  extinct  Waccanessisi.  Following  the  au- 
thority of  George  Gibbs,  I  mention  also  as  an  Upper  Chinook 
dialect  the  Wasco  or  Cathlasco  language.  From  their  original 
homes  east  of  the  Dalles,  the  "Wascoes  were  removed  to  the 
"Warm  Spring  agency. 

CHINOOK  JARGON. —  The  location  of  the  Chinooks  in  the  central 
region  of  western  border  commerce,  and  on  the  outlet  of  the 
international  roadway  of  Columbia  river,  rendered  the  acquisi 
tion  of  the  Chinook,  or  Tsiniik  language  very  desirable  for  the 
surrounding  tribes.  But  the  nature  of  this  language  made  this 
a  rather  difficult  task,  and  so  a  trade  language  gradually  formed 
itself  out  of  Chinook,  Chehali,  Selish,  Nootka  and  other  terms, 
which,  on  the  advent  of  the  whites,  were  largely  increased  by 
French,  and  in  a  less  degree  by  English  words.  The  French 
words  were  derived  from  the  Canadian  and  Missouri  patois  of 
the  fur  traders.  Two-fifths  of  the  jargon  terms,  were  taken  from 
Chinook  dialects,  and  as  the  inflectional  forms,  prefixes  and 
affixes  of  these  unwieldy  idioms  were  dropped  altogether,  and 
replaced  by  particles  or  auxiliaries,  the  acquisition  of  the  jargon 
became  easy.  A  comprehensive  sketch  of  this  idiom  will  be 
found  in  the  preface  to  George  Gibbs's  Dictionary  of  the  Chinook 
Jargon,  New  York,  1863  (in  Shea's  Linguistics). 

"We  have  similar  instances  of  medley  jargons  from  very  dis- 
parate languages  in  the  Lingua  Franca  of  the  Mediterranean 
ports,  in  the  Pidgin  English  of  Canton,  the  Negro -English- 
Dutch  of  Surinam,  the  Slave  on  the  Upper  Yukon  river,  in  a 
Sahaptiri  slave-jargon,  and  in  the  numerous  women-languages 
of  South  America. 

SAHAPTIN. —  This  name  belongs  to  a  small  affluent  of  the  Koos- 


444  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

kooskie  or  Clearwater  river,  and  has  been  adopted  to  designate 
the  stock  of  languages  spoken  in  an  extensive  territory  on  the 
middle  and  lower  Columbia  river,  and  on  its  tributaries,  Yakima, 
Paluse,  Clearwater  and  Snake  rivers.  The  morphological  part 
of  the  Sahaptin  grammar  is  rich  and  well  developed,  and  poly- 
synthetism  is  carried  up  to  a  high  degree.  The  exterior  of  the 
race  recalls  the  bodily  structure,  not  the  complexion,  of  the  Mon- 
golian type  of  mankind.  The  easternmost  tribe  is : 

Nez-Perces,  the  most  numerous  and  powerful  Sahaptin  tribe, 
settled  on  a  reserve  in  northern  Idaho  (about  2,800  Indians),  or 
roaming  in  the  neighborhood.  A  sketch  of  their  grammar 
was  published  in  Transactions  of  American  Ethn.  Society.  The 
western  and  northern  Sahaptin  tribes  are  the  following :  Wdla- 
wdla  (rivermen),  on  Umatilla  agency,  in  northeastern  Oregon: 
Palus  or  Paloose,  on  Paliis  river  and  Yakima  reservation ; 
Ydkama  or  Yakima,  on  Yakima  reserve,  Washington  terri- 
tory. Rev.  Pandosy  wrote  a  Grammar,  Texts  and  Dictionary  of 
this  dialect,  which  were  published  in  Mr.  Shea's  Linguistic 
Series.  From  their  habitat  they  are  called  Pshuanwappum, 
dwellers  in  the  stony  country.  Klikitat,  011  Yakima  reserve 
and  vicinity,  formerly  roaming  through  the  woodlands  around 
Mount  St.  Helens.  Umatilla,  on  Oregon  side  of  Columbia  river 
and  on  Umatilla  agency.  No  vocabularies.  Warm  Spring  In- 
dians on  west  side  of  Middle  Des  Chutes  river.  They  call  them- 
selves Tishxani-hhlama,  after  a  locality  on  that  water-course,  or 
Milli-hhlama,  from  the  thermal  sources  surging  on  the  territory 
of  their  reservation  (milli,  bubbling,  or  tepid,  hlildma  "  belong- 
ing to,  pertaining).  A  slave  jargon  exists  among  the  Nez- 
Perce  Indians,  which  originated  through  their  intercourse  with 
prisoners  of  war,  and  contains  expressions  for  eye,  horse,  man, 
woman  and  other  most  common  terms,  which  are  entirely  foreign 
to  Sahaptin. 

SELISH. —  The  Selish  family  extends  from  the  Pacific  ocean  and 
the  straits  of  Fuca,  through  America  and  partly  through  British 
territory  to  the  Rocky  mountains  and  the  113.  meridian.  This 
race  is  most  densely  settled  around  Puget  sound,  and  its  main 
bulk  resides  north  of  Columbia  river.  By  joining  into  one  name 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES.        445 

their  westernmost  and  easternmost  dialect,  their  language  has 
been  called  also  Tsihaili-Selish,  or  Chehali-Selish.  A  large  num- 
ber of  words  of  this  truly  northern  and  superlatively  jaw-break- 
ing language  are  quite  unpronounceable  to  Anglo-Americans 
and  Europeans  —  i.  e.,  tsat^lsh,  shoes;  skai^lentxl,  woman  in 
Tsihaili ;  shit^ltso,  shoes  in  Atnah.  This  stock  abounds  in  inflec- 
tional and  syntactical  forms,  and  redoubles  the  root  or  part  of  it 
extensively,  but  always  in  a  distributive  sense.  It  divides  itself 
into  a  large  number  of  dialects  and  subdialects,  among  which 
we  point  out  the  subsequent  ones  as  probably  the  most  important, 
going  from  west  to  north,  and  then  to  the  east :  Nsietshawus  or 
Tillamuk  (Killamuk),  on  Pacific  coast,  south  of  Columbia  river ; 
Tsihaili,  Chehdli ;  on  or  near  Pacific  coast  Washington  territory  : 
has  three  subdialects ;  Tsihaili  proper  on  Chehali  river  and  in 
Puyallup  agency ;  Quiantl,  Quaiantl  or  Kwantlen ;  Queniauitl.  A 
few  Chehalis  and  Chinooks  inhabit  Shoalwater  bay.  Cowlitz  or 
Kd-ualitsk,  spoken  on  Puyallup  agency.  Their  ancient  home  is 
the  valley  of  the  Cowlitz  river,  a  northern  tributary  of  the  Lower 
Columbia  river.  Soaiatlpi,  west  of  Olympia  city.  This  tribe 
once  included  the  Kettlefalls  Indians.  NisquaUi,  N'skwdli ;  east 
of  Olympia,  on  Nisqualli  river,  settled  there  in  company  with 
the  Squaxins,  on  Puyallup  agency.  Clallam,  (S'Clallum)  on 
S'Kokomish  agency,  northwest  of  Olympia  city.  Twana,  in 
same  locality.  Dwamish,  partly  settled  on  Tulalip  sub-agency. 
Lummi,  on  Nbotsak  or  Lummi  river,  near  the  British  boundary. 
This  dialect  is  largely  impregnated  with  Nootka  and  other  foreign 
elements.  The  Shushwap,  Suwapamuck  or  Southern  Atnah  belongs 
to  the  Selish  stock,  but  does  not  extend  from  middle  course  of 
Fraser  river  and  its  affluents  so  far  south  as  to  reach  American 
territory.  It  closely  resembles  Selish  proper.  The  eastern 
Selish  dialects  are:  O'Kinakane  (Okanagari),  with  the  subdialect 
St'lakam,  on  Okanagan  river,  a  northern  tributary  of  Upper 
Columbia  river  and  on  Colville  reserve,  which  is  located  in  the 
northeastern  angle  of  Washington  territory.  Kullespelm,  Kallis- 
pelm,  or  Pend  d'Oreille  of  Washington  territory,  on  Pend  d'Oreille 
river  and  Lake  Callispelm.  The  Upper  Peud  d'Oreille  are  settled 
on  Flathead  or  Jocko  reservation,  Montana.  Spokane,  on  Col- 


446  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

ville  reserve  and  vicinity  ;  three  subdialects  ;  Sngomenei,  Snpoil- 
schi,  Syk'eszilni.  Sldtsuish  or  Coeur  d'Alene  ;  on  a  reservation 
in  northern  Idaho.  Sdish  proper  or  Flathead.  The  tribe 
speaking  it  resides  on  Flathead  reservation,  and  is  called  so 
without  any  apparent  deformity  of  the  head.  The  dialect  lacks 
the  sounds  b,  d,  f,  r  ;  it  has  been  studied  by  a  missionary,  Rev. 
Gregory  Mengarini,  who  at  present  is  writing  a  second  edition 
of  his  Grammatical  linguae,  Selicae ;  the  first  edition  was  pub- 
lished in  New  York,  1861  (in  Shea's  Linguistics).  Piskwaus  or 
Piskwas,  on  middle  Columbia  river  and  on  Yakima  reservation, 
Washington  territory. 

NOOTKA. —  The  only  dialect  of  this  stock  spoken  within  the 
limits  of  the  United  States  is  that  of  the  Makah,  Classet  or  Klaiz- 
zaht  tribe  in  Neah  bay,  near  Cape  Flattery.  The  Smithsonian 
Institution  published  in  1869  a  very  elaborate  ethnological  sketch 
of  this  fisher-tribe,  written  by  James  G.  Swan.  Nootka  dialects 
are  mainly  in  use  on  Vancouver's  island,  which  is  divided  in 
four  areas  of  totally  different  families  of  languages. 

KOOTENAI. —  The  Kootenai,  Kitunaha,  or  Flatbow  language 
is  spoken  on  Kootenay  river,  an  important  tributary  of  Upper 
Columbia  river,  draining  some  remote  portions  of  Idaho,  Mon- 
tana and  the  British  possessions.  A  Lord's  prayer  in  Kootenai 
is  given  in  Bancroft's  Native  Races,  vol.  in,  p.  620. 

In  bestowing  the  greatest  care  and  accuracy  on  the  composi- 
tion of  this  topographical  survey  of  Pacific  languages,  my  princi- 
pal purpose  was  to  give  a  correct  division,  of  the  idioms  into  stocks, 
and  their  dialects  and  subdialects,  and  I  shall  be  very  grateful 
for  suggestions  correcting  my  statements,  if  any  should  be  found 
erroneous.  To  have  given  another  location  for  a  tribe  than  the 
one  it  occupies  at  present,  cannot  be  considered  as  a  grave  error, 
for  many  American  tribes  are  nomadic,  and  shift  constantly  from 
one  prairie,  pasture  or  fishing  place  to  another,  or  are  removed 
to  distant  reservations  by  government  agents.  For  want  of 
information,  I  was  unable  to  classify  the  Hhana  in  Sacramento 
valley,  the  Hagnaggi  on  Smith  river,  California,  the  Chitwout  or 
Similkameen  on  the  British- American  border,  and  a  few  other 


INDIAN  LANGUAGES  OF  THE  PACIFIC  STATES.        447 

tongues  ;  but,  in  spite  of  this,  I  presume  that  the  survey  will  be 
useful  for  orientation  on  this  linguistic  field,  where  confusion 
has  reigned  supreme  for  so  many  generations. 

For  the  better  guidance  of  students  in  ethnology  and  linguist- 
ics, I  propose  to  classify  all  the  Indian  dialects  in  a  very  simple 
and  clear  manner,  by  adding  to  their  dialect  name  that  of  the 
stock  or  family,  as  it  is  done  in  zoology  and  botany  with  the 
genera  and  species.  In  the  same  manner  as  the  Mescaleros  and 
Lipans  are  called  Mescalero- Apaches  and  Lipan-Apaches,  we  can 
form  compound  names,  as :  Warm-Spring  Sahaptin  Piskwaus 
Selish,  Wat^lala  Chinook,  Kwalhioqua  Tinne,  Hoopa  Tinne, 
Dowpum  Wintoon,  Gallinomero  Porno,  Coconoon  Yocut,  Kizh 
Shoshoni  (or  Kizh  Kauvuya),  Comoyei  Yuma,  Ottare  Cherokee, 
Seneca  Iroquois,  Abnaki  Algonkin,  Delaware  Algonkin,  and  so 
forth.  The  help  afforded  to  linguistic  topography  by  this  method 
would  be  as  important  as  the  introduction  of  Linnean  termin- 
ology was  to  descriptive  natural  science,  for  genera  and  species 
exist  in  human  speech  as  well  as  among  animals  and  plants. 

The  thorough  study  of  one  Indian  tongue  is  the  most  powerful 
incentive  to  instructive  and  capable  travelers  for  collecting  as 
much  linguistic  material  as  possible,  and  as  accurately  as  possi- 
ble, chiefly  in  the  shape  of  texts  and  their  translations.  It  is 
better  to  collect  little  information  accurately,  than  much  infor- 
mation of  an  unreliable  nature.  The  signs  used  for  emphasizing 
syllables,  for  nasal  and  softened  vowels,  for  explosive,  lingual, 
croaking,  and  other  consonantic  sounds,  must  be  noted  and  ex- 
plained carefully ;  and  the  whole  has  to  be  committed  to  such 
publishers  or  scientific  societies  as  are  not  in  the  habit  of  procras- 
tinating publications.  Stocks  and  dialects  become  rapidly  ex- 
tinct in  the  west,  or  get  hopelessly  mixed,  through  increased 
inter-tribal  commerce,  so  that  the  original  shape,  pronunciation 
and  inflection  can  no  longer  be  recognized  with  certainty.  The 
work  must  be  undertaken  in  no  distant  time  by  zealous  men, 
for  after  "  the  last  of  the  Mohicans"  will  have  departed  this  life, 
there  will  be  no  means  left  for  us  to  study  the  most  important 
feature  of  a  tribe  —  its  language  —  if  it  has  not  been  secured  in 
time  by  alphabetical  notation. 


CHASTISEMENT  OF  THE  TAMASEES. 

AN  INCIDENT  OF  THE  EAELT  INDIAN  WARS  IN  GEORGIA.* 

[  To  the  Author  of  the  London  Magazine. 

SIR  :  We  have  received  many  accounts  of  the  barbarous  ravages  and  massacres  of  the  Indians,  in 
America,  during  the  course  of  the  present  war,  owing  to  our  impolitick  treatment  of  them  for  many 
years  past,  and  the  tame  and  corrupt  measures  pursued  by  a  late  ministry,  or  rather  confederacy 
against  the  honour  and  interest  of  their  country.  Perhaps  an  occurrence  that  happened,  in  the  last 
war,  in  that  part  of  the  world,  may  be  amusing  to  your  readers :  Sure  I  am,  that  it  contains  a  strik- 
ing instance  of  the  righteous  judgments  Providence  inflicts,  for  wise  ends  and  purposes,  sometimes 
even  in  this  life,  on  the  cruel,  the  base,  and  the  treacherous.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  transaction 
I  myself  was  an  actor ;  and  therefore  you  may  depend  upon  it  as  a  fact  not  to  be  disputed. —  I  am, 
your  constant  reader, 

June,  8, 1760.  AMEKICUS.] 

About  the  year  1740,  and,  I  think,  towards  the  close  of  the 
year,  General  Oglethorpe,  then  commanding  in  Georgia,  had 
erected  a  small  fort  at  a  place  called  Mount  Venture,  about  96 
miles  from  Savannah,  capital  of  that  province,  to  protect  the 
Indian  traders,  and  keep  the  communication  open  for  the  friendly 
savages.  One  Mr.  Francis,  a  brave  and  honest  officer  of  Rangers, 
commanded  the  garrison,  consisting  of  but  a  few  men,  though 
strength  sufficient  for  a  defence  against  the  attacks  of  a  consi- 
derable party  of  Indians,  whilst  within  the  fort,  and  able  to  man- 
age their  swivels  and  small  arms.  Mr.  Francis  had  also  with 
him  his  wife  and  an  infant  son ;  and  some  circumstances  had 
happened  in  their  union,  that  made  them  a  fond,  endeared,  and 
happy  pair.  It  was  necessary,  now  and  then,  for  the  commander 
to  repair  with  a  party  of  his  men  to  Savannah,  or  Fort  Argyle, 
for  provisions  and  ammunition ;  and,  as  the  Yamasee  Indians, 
then  the  most  troublesome  nation  attached  to  the  Spaniards,  had 
been  severely  handled  in  the  preceding  year,  he  ventured  now 
to  leave  the  fort,  and  his  beloved  family,  with  fewer  protecting 
hands  than  usual. 

He  had  scarce  been  set  out  a  day  before  a  scouting  party  of 
these  Indians  discovered  themselves,  and,  to  the  great  terror  of 
Mrs.  Francis  and  the  two  or  three  Rangers  with  her,  surrounded 
the  palisade,  and  soon,  notwithstanding  a  smart  fire  from  the 


1  Reprinted  from  The  London  (England)  Magazine,  for  June,  1760. 


CHASTISEMENT  OF  THE  YAMASEES.  449 

fort,  made  themselves  masters  of  it.  The  Rangers  they  killed 
and  scalped  before  the  poor  woman's  eyes,  whose  fears  operated 
even  to  distraction,  whilst  she  held  the  tender  infant  clasped  in 
her  arms,  and  hesought  the  barbarians  to  spare  them.  It  shall 
suffice  to  say,  that,  after  many  shocking  insults  and  brutalities, 
(too  gross  and  too  affecting,  for  your  readers'  ears)  they  shot  the 
child  in  its  mother's  arms,  and  soon  after  also  dispatched  the 
frantic  matron  in  the  same  manner.  One  Creek  Indian,  named 
Notoway,  had  the  good  fortune  to  escape  to  a  neighboring  creek, 
where  a  canoe  lying,  he,  unobserved,  got  from  them,  and  arrived 
at  Savannah  with  the  dreadful  tidings. 

The  husband,  overwhelmed  by  a  blow  that  at  once  reduced 
him  to  the  utmost  misery  and  distress,  soon  returned  with  proper 
assistance  to  take  revenge  upon  the  savage  monsters ;  but  they 
were  gone,  and  in  vain  he  pursued  their  tracks ;  so  far,  however, 
he  pursued,  that  it  would  have  been  the  greatest  rashness  to 
proceed  farther.  As  they  had  burnt  the  fort  to  the  ground,  he 
had  then  opportunity  only  of  paying  his  last  duties  to  the  man- 
gled remains  of  his  family.  He  missed  no  occasions  of  engaging 
the  Indians  of  this  tribe,  who  felt,  in  bloody  traits,  the  power  of 
his  arm.  Yet  never  had  he  met  with  any  of  those  concerned  in 
the  tragedy  above  related ;  for  the  Indian  who  escaped  had  taken 
such  notice  of  them,  that,  from  his  report,  he  was  able  to  dis- 
tinguish those  most  active  in  the  dreadful  deed,  from  any  other. 

At  the  latter  end  of  the  year  1743,  a  large  body  of  these 
Yamasees  fell  upon  a  remote  part  of  Captain  Kerr's  plantation, 
and,  after  doing  considerable  mischief,  carried  off  fifteen  of  his 
company  of  marines,  and  set  off  with  them  for  St.  Augustine. 
It  was  two  days  before  this  fresh  irruption  was  known  to  Captain 
Horton,  then  commanding  officer  at  Frederica ;  but  then  he 
ordered  out  a  select  party  of  the  regiment,  a  number  of  friendly 
Indians,  who  then  happened  to  be  there,  and  about  twenty 
Rangers  under  Lieutenant  Francis,  to  pursue  them.  Francis, 
with  unwearied  diligence,  reached  the  lake  de  Poupa,  which  he 
knew  they  must  cross  in  their  way  to  St.  Augustine,  and  imagined 
they  would  make  such  a  compass  to  elude  pursuit,  as  would  permit 
him  to  arrive  there  before  them.  As  no  tracks  were  perceived, 
30 


450  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

we  imagined  we  had  luckily  got  the  start  of  them ;  and  therefore, 
crossing  the  lake  upon  rafts,  we  lay  in  ambush  for  them,  well 
defended  from  immediate  view  hy  the  thick-spreading  shrubs 
and  palmettoes  behind  which  we  prepared  to  receive  our  expected 
visitants. 

The  detachment  of  the  regiment  was  posted  in  front ;  and  on 
one  flank,  the  Indians  under  the  famous  Tonnahowi,  son  of 
Tomo  Chichi,  king  of  Yamacraw,  both  well  remembered  by  the 
people  of  London  ;  on  the  other,  Mr.  Francis  with  his  Rangers 
were  concealed.  Thus  we  continued,  constantly  lying  upon  our 
arms  for  near  forty-eight  hours,  pretty  well  harrassed  by  the 
usual  tortures  of  the  climate,  heat,  musquitoes,  wood-ticks,  sand- 
flies,  and  other  insects  and  vermin.  At  length  one  of  our  Indian 
scouts  discovered  them  passing  the  lake,  and  seemingly  in  great 
consternation  at  the  tracks  they  discovered  in  their  way.  Soon 
after,  one  of  their  party,  upon  the  same  errand,  by  an  indiscreet 
and  eager  discovery  of  our  Indians,  returned  back  to  his  body 
with  the  relation  of  what  he  had  seen.  It  was,  however,  too  late 
to  retreat,  had  they  known  our  real  number,  which,  notwithstand- 
ing, was  much  inferior  to  theirs,  who  were  near  one  hundred. 
They  then  resolutely  came  up,  with  their  infernal  war-whoop,  and 
pushed  into  the  very  defile,  but  were  so  warmly  received,  and 
such  a  number  of  them  dropped  by  our  first  discharge,  that, 
though  they  fired  briskly  for  a  few  minutes,  yet  our  Indians  and 
Rangers  then  running  in  upon  them,  as  many  as  escaped  their 
fury  fled  in  the  utmost  consternation.  It  was  then  the  gallant 
Indian  chief  received  his  death-wound,  valiantly  fighting  in  the 
cause  of  his  beloved  English.  Our  other  loss  was  very  trifling; 
but  near  forty  of  the  Yamasees  were  killed,  many  made  prisoners, 
and,  perhaps,  many  more  died  of  their  wounds  in  the  woods  and 
marshes  to  which  they  fled  ;  so  that  it  was  the  greatest  blow  they 
had  received  since  the  commencement  of  the  war. 

Amongst  the  prisoners  the  faithful  Notoway  discovered  the 
very  villain  that  shot  poor  Mrs.  Francis ;  and,  in  the  first  emotions 
of  grief  and  rage,  Francis  would  have  shot  him  thro'  the  head; 
but,  recollecting  it  was  improper  for  him  to  show  an  example 
of  this  sort,  he  called  some  of  the  young  Indians,  who  scalped 


CHASTISEMENT  OF  THE  YAMASEES.  451 

him  in  our  presence,  whilst  he  neither  changed  countenance,  nor 
faltered  in  the  song  he  chanted,  importing  how  many  of  the 
English  Indians  he  had  served  in  the  same  manner,  what  blood 
he  had  shed,  and  particularly  boasting  of  his  murder  of  Mrs. 
Francis.  Enraged  as  we  were,  none  of  us  could  steadily  face  this 
horrid  scene ;  and  his  tormentors  were  ordered  to  put  him  to  no 
further  torture ;  upon  which  they  shot  him  to  death.  Thus  ended 
our  expedition.  But  I  must  remember  to  tell  you,  that  we  rescued 
our  fifteen  captives,  who  had  the  presence  of  mind  to  fling  them- 
selves flat  on  the  earth  at  the  beginning  of  the  engagement,  and 
received  no  hurt;  though  by  little  but  their  language  could  they  be 
distinguished  from  their  late  masters,  being  stripped,  and  scorched 
by  the  rays  of  the  sun  to  nearly  the  same  hue.  One  prisoner  we 
brought  to  Frederica,  who  was  given  up  to  the  Indians,  and 
burnt  by  them  for  the  loss  of  their  chief,  as  we  afterwards  under- 
stood. The  brave  Tonnahowi  we  buried  with  military  honors  at 
Fort  William,  in  the  island  of  Cumberland ;  a  respect  truly  due 
to  his  fidelity  and  bravery. 


THE  LAST  OF  THE 

BY  BENSON  J.  LOSSING. 

In  the  vestibule  of  the  library  of  the  New  York  Historical 
Society  is  the  figure  of  a  North  American  Indian,  in  purest  mar- 
ble, wrought  by  the  hand  of  Thomas  Crawford.  The  man  is 
sitting,  with  his  head  low  bent  and  resting  upon  his  palm,  and 
his  expression  is  that  of  one  entirely  absorbed  in  deep  and  sad 
contemplation.  That  fine  work  of  art  is  called  The  Last  of  his 
Race.  Art,  history,  and  romance  have  touchingly  depicted  that 
rare,  melancholy  person,  the  last  of  his  race  or  nation,  but  have 
yet  failed  to  portray  that  rare,  melancholy  being,  the  last  of  her 
race  or  nation. 

A  dozen  years  ago  I  visited  that  rare  woman,  the  last  living 
survivor  of  her  nation.  She  was  then  just  one  hundred  years  old, 
and  blessed  with  a  liberal  share  of  bodily  and  mental  vigor.  She 
was  undoubtedly  the  last  of  the  Pequods,  a  powerful  nation  (in  . 
the  limited  sense  of  the  term)  of  Indians,  who  occupied  an  ex- 
tensive region  of  country  along  the  borders  of  Long  Island  sound, 
in  eastern  Connecticut.  They  had  come,  nobody  knew  when, 
from  the  more  vigorous  north  —  a  hardy  people,  inured  to  the 
chase  and  war  —  and  driven  away  the  weaker  ichthyophagists  of 
the  seaboard.  They  exercised  wide  authority,  by  right  of  con- 
quest, over  the  continent  tribes  in  their  vicinity  and  a  greater 
portion  of  Long  Island ;  and  they  were  so  aggressive  that  they 
won  the  fear  and  hatred  of  all  around  them.  Their  national 
seat  was  at  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  and  their  chief  sagamore, 
when  the  white  people  first  settled  in  Connecticut,  was  Sassacus. 
He  was  a  sort  of  emperor,  having  under  his  control  between  the 
Thames  and  the  Hudson  rivers,  along  the  so  and,  twenty-six 
chiefs  and  almost  four  thousand  warriors.  His  royal  residence 
was  upon  a  hill  a  little  southward  of  the  present  village  of  Groton, 
then  covered  with  the  primeval  forest.  Upon  the  Mystic  river, 


Reprinted  from  Scribner^s  Monthly  (New  York)  for  October,  1871. 


THE  LAST  OF  THE  PEQUODS.  453 

eastward,  not  far  from  Stonington,  he  had  a  strong  fort,  and 
around  him  stood  seven  hundred  young  warriors  ready  to  obey 
his  every  command.  Haughty  and  insolent,  he  spurned  every 
overture  of  the  white  people,  and  looked  with  contempt  upon 
the  rebellious  doings  of  Uncas,  of  the  royal  blood,  then  in  armed 
insurrection  against  him.  The  English  were  but  a  handful  com- 
pared to  his  people,  and  he  scorned  their  friendship.  What  had 
he  to  fear?  Much,  very  much,  as  a  brief  campaign  against  him 
in  May,  1637,  proved. 

The  outrages  of  Sassacus  and  his  followers  had  made  his  name 
so  terrible,  that  white  and  dusky  mothers  alike  drew  their  babes 
closer  to  their  bosoms  whenever  it  was  uttered.  It  was  evident 
that  he  aspired  to  be  master  of  all  New  England,  and  that  his 
first  business  toward  the  accomplishment  of  that  end  would  be 
the  extermination  of  the  English.  Imminent  danger  caused 
quick  and  energetic  action.  Captain  John  Mason  was  sent,  with 
less  than  one  hundred  men,  to  land  on  the  shores  of  and  penetrate 
the  Pequod  country,  and  bring  the  haughty  savages  under  sub- 
jection. His  little  army  sailed  in  pinnaces  down  Narraganset 
bay.  Two  hundred  Narraganset  warriors,  under  Miantonomoh, 
their  principal  chief,  joined  the  English;  so  also  did  many  brave 
Niantics,  and  the  Pequod  rebels  under  Uncas.  When,  early  in 
June,  Mason  approached  the  fort  of  Sassacus,  on  the  Mystic,  he 
had  full  five  hundred  light  and  dark  warriors  following  him. 

At  early  dawn  that  little  army  from  the  east  stealthily  crawled 
up  the  thick  wooded  hill  crowned  by  the  Pequod  fort.  The 
whole  garrison  were  in  deep  slumber,  excepting  a  solitary  sen- 
tinel ;  and  at  the  same  moment  when  he  shouted  into  dull  ears, 
"  The  English !  The  English !  "  the  invaders  scaled  the  mounds, 
beat  down  the  palisades,  and  swarmed  into  the  fort  with  gun, 
sword,  and  tomahawk.  The  mattings  of  the  \vigwams  and  the  dry 
bushes  and  timbers  of  the  fort  were  fired,  when  seven  hundred 
men,  women,  and  children  perished  by  the  flames  and  steel !  The 
strong,  the  beautiful,  and  the  innocent  were  mercilessly  slaugh- 
tered ;  and  the  impious  leader  in  his  account  said,  "  God  is  above 
us !  He  laughs  his  enemies  and  the  enemies  of  the  English  to 
scorn,  making  them  as  a  fiery  oven.  Thus  does  the  Lord  judge 
among  the  heathen,  filling  the  place  with  dead  bodies." 


454  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Swift  couriers  flew  to  Sassacus  with  the  sad  news.  Close  upon 
the  steps  of  the  bearers  of  evil  tidings  followed  the  remnant  of 
his  warriors  who  escaped  the  massacre,  and  were  excited  to  mad- 
ness by  the  dreadful  calamity.  The  sagamore  sat,  stately  and 
sullen,  under  a  canopy  of  boughs,  while  they  boldly  charged  the 
disasters  of  the  morning  to  his  haughtiness  and  misconduct. 
With  violent  gestures  and  frequent  yells,  they  threatened  him 
with  death ;  and  they  would  doubtless  have  pushed  the  threat  to 
action  had  they  not  been  startled  by  the  blast  of  a  trumpet  near 
by.  Another  foe  was  upon  them.  From  the  head  of  the  Mystic 
came  two  hundred  armed  settlers  from  Massachusetts  and  Ply- 
mouth, to  seal  the  doom  of  the  Pequod  nation.  Their  advent 
brought  despair  to  Sassacus  and  his  followers,  and  these  instantly 
set  fire  to  their  wigwams  and  palisades,  and  crossing  the  Thaia.ies, 
fled  westward,  closely  pursued  by  the  English,  with  great 
slaughter.  These  spread  utter  desolation  over  the  beautiful  land 
of  the  Pequods.  "Wigwams  and  gardens  disappeared  before 
them,  and  men,  women,  and  children  met  the  fate  of  the  Canaan- 
ites  before  the  sword  of  the  son  of  Nun.  With  a  few  followers 
Sassacus  took  refuge  in  Sasco  swamp,  near  the  present  Fairfield, 
where  all  surrendered  but  the  Sagamore  and  half  a  dozen  war- 
riors, who  escaped  to  the  Mohawks  and  met  death  by  murder 
among  them.  And  so  it  was  that  a  nation  was  destroyed  in  a 
day.  None  of  all  that  once  powerful  people  remained  but  the 
few  captives  and  their  families,  and  the  surviving  rebels  under 
Uncas  himself  the  last  of  the  Mohegans  of  the  royal  line  of  the 
Pequods. 

Almost  a  hundred  years  later,  a  descendant  of  one  of  these 
Pequod  captives  was  a  man  of  energy  and  wisdom,  named  Mah- 
wee,  or  Mahweesum,  whose  family  lived  in  western  Connecticut. 
With  a  party  of  hunters  (he  was  then  quite  young),  he  chased 
a  buck  to  the  summit  of  a  range  of  high  hills  beyond  the  usual 
limits  of  their  hunting.  At  near  sunset  they  looked  down  into 
a  beautiful  valley  flooded  with  golden  light,  through  which  flowed 
a  winding  stream.  In  the  morning  they  descended  to  the  plain 
and  there  discovered  rich  corn-lands.  Bringing  their  families 
over  the  hills,  they  made  their  homes  there,  near  the  mouth  of  a 


THE  LAST  OF  THE  PEQUODS.  455 

little  tributary  to  the  river.  The  corn-lands  and  the  little  stream 
they  called  Pish-gach-ti-gock  —  the  meeting  of  the  waters  —  and 
the  river  they  named  Hoo'-sa-tah-nook',  the  stream  over  the  moun- 
iains.  Their  place  of  settlement  was  near  the  present  village  of 
Kent,  in  Litchfield  county,  Connecticut.  Such  was  the  origin  of 
the  name  of  the  Housatonic  river,  and  the  tribal  one  of  the  rem- 
nants of  the  PequodjNarraganset,  and  other  New  England  Indians 
who  settled  there,  which  has  been  corrupted  into  Schaghticook. 
Of  this  mixed  tribe,  so  formed,  Mahwee,  about  the  year  1728, 
became  sachem  or  civil  ruler,  and  held  the  scepter  until  his  death. 

One  day,  before  he  became  sachem,  Mahwee  was  hunting  on 
the  mountains  westward  of  Schaghticook,  and  from  their  tops  he 
looked  down  into  a  lovely  valley  covered  with  rich  grass,  and 
broken  into  little  rocky  and  wooded  hills  that  appeared  like 
islands  in  a  green  sea.  Through  it  flowed  a  sparkling  stream 
that  received  many  a  brook  from  the  mountains.  It  was  the 
valley  of  the  Weebetuck  or  Ten  Mile  river,  in  the  town  of  Dover, 
N.  Y.  The  mountain  sides  of  the  valley  were  full  of  game,  and 
the  river  abounded  with  fish.  There  Mahwee  built  a  wigwam 
for  his  family,  gathered  about  him  an  Indian  settlement,  and  be- 
came its  sachem.  He  afterward  dwelt  in  one  or  two  other  places, 
and  finally  went  back  to  Schaghticook,  where  he  drew  around 
him  the  other  settlements,  and  became  sachem  over  all. 

Several  years  after  that  general  gathering,  Moravian  mission- 
aries had  penetrated  that  region.  A  station  was  planted,  in  1741, 
at  Shekomeko,  in  the  eastern  part  of  Duchess  county,  N".  Y., 
and  not  many  miles  from  the  valley  of  the  Weebetuck.  The 
labors  of  the  missionaries  among  the  Indians  were  extended  to 
Schaghticook,  and  the  first  convert  among  the  tribe  there  was 
sachem  or  King  Mahwee,  to  whom  they  gave  the  baptismal  name 
of  Gideon.  He  was  baptized  by  Martin  Mack,  on  the  13th  of 
February,  1743,  and  to  the  end  of  his  life  he  was  faithful  to  his 
profession.  For  a  long  time  he  was  an  exhorter  among  his  people. 
Believing  it  would  add  to  the  dignity  of  his  household,  he  was 
married  to  another  wife  from  among  the  Stockbridge  Indians, 
farther  up  the  Housatonic  river,  and  took  her  to  Pishgachtigock. 
But  his  people  were  so  offended  by  the  act  that  he  felt  compelled 


456  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

to  reside,  for  a  time,  in  the  valley  of  the  "Weebetuck,  his  old  home. 
There  he  lived  until  convinced  that  he  had  done  wrong,  when 
he  sent  his  second  wife  back  to  her  people,  and  returned  to  his  own. 

Eunice  Mahwee,-  grand-daughter  of  Sachem  Gideon,  and  who 
was  descended  in  unmixed  blood  from  her  Pequod  ancestors, 
the  unfortunate  contemporaries  of  Sassacus,  was  "  the  last  of  her 
nation"  to  whom  I  have  alluded.     I  visited  her  under  circum 
stances  of  peculiar  interest. 

The  fact  that  one  of  their  missionary  stations  had  been  planted 
in  the  province  of  JN"evv  York,  near  the  borders  of  Connecticut, 
more  than  a  hundred  years  before,  had  almost  faded  from  the 
Moravian  mind,  and  was  known  only  to  a  few  students.  A 
farmer  plowed  up,  on  the  site  of  Shekomeko,  a  fragment  of  a 
stone  bearing  an  inscription  in  the  German  language.  It  was 
an  impenetrable  enigma  until  records  pointed  to  the  spot  as  the 
site  of  the  settlement  of  the  praying  Indians.  The  Moravian 
Historical  Society  of  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania,  became  interested 
in  the  matter.  A  delegation  from  it  visited  the  spot  as  explorers 
in  June,  1859,  and  it  was  found  that  the  fragment  was  part  of  a 
monument  erected  there  at  the  grave  and  to  the  memory  of 
Gottlieb  Biittner,  one  of  the  two  earliest  missionaries  at  Sheko- 
meko. The  writer  accompanied  the  explorers,  and  a  few  months 
afterward  he  participated  with  the  Moravian  bishop  and  other 
clergy  and  laymen  of  the  United  Brethren,  in  the  dedication  of 
a  monument  erected  at  the  grave  of  Biittner,  and  another  near 
Sharon,  Connecticut,  where  the  Moravians  had  a  missionary  sta- 
tion. From  these  interesting  places  we  rode  through  a  most  pic- 
turesque region  southward,  passing  on  the  way  the  upper  borders 
of  the  Weebetuck  valley,  and  arrived  at  Kent,  on  the  Housatonic,  at 
sunset.  The  next  morning  the  whole  party  rode  a  short  distance 
down  the  western  side  of  the  river  to  the  Schaghticook  reserva- 
tion, and  visited  Eunice  Mahwee,  the  chief  subject  of  this  paper. 
At  that  time  only  about  fifty  persons  composed  the  remnant  of 
the  mixed  tribe  over  which  Sachem  Gideon  had  ruled  ;  and  Aunt 
Eunice,  as  her  friends  and  neighbors  called  her,  was  the  only 
one  in  whose  veins  then  ran  the  pure  blood  of  the  Pequods. 

As  we  approached  the  reservation  we  found  the  valley  very 


THE  LAST  OF  THE  PEQUODS. 


457 


narrow  and  more  picturesque,  with  the  Pisgachtigock  or  Schagh- 
ticook  mountain  overlooking  it.  Some  of  the  houses  were  of 
logs,  and  others  were  framed ;  and  around  each  was  a  patch  of  cul- 
tivated land.  Some  of  the  dwellings  were  adorned  with  flowers, 
shrubbery,  and  vines.  Thus  beautified,  was  the  house  in  which 
Eunice  dwelt  with  her  grand-daughter  Lavinia,  who  was  in  the 
yard  when  we  drew  up.  She  was  tidily  dressed  in  faded  calico, 
and  had  a  man's  straw  hat  upon  her  head,  and  an  implement  of 
labor  in  her  hand.  Undisturbed  by  the  sudden  arrival  of  so 
many  strangers,  she  led  us  quietly  into  the  house,  where,  at  an 
open  fire-place,  before  some  glowing  embers,  sat  upon  a  rush- 
bottomed  chair  the  venerable  object  of  our  visit,  with  a  half- 
finished  basket  on  which  she  had  been  working  by  her  side.  In 

an  open  doorway,  con- 
necting with  another 
room,  stood  Lavinia's 
pretty,  bright-eyed 
daughter,  a  young 
married  woman,  with 
a  babe  in  her  arms. 
So  the  eye  rested  upon 
living  members  of  the 
same  family  born  a 
hundred  years  apart ! 
Glancing  around  the 
room  we  saw  evi- 
dences of  poverty,  but 
not  of  want.  Three 
chairs,  a  deal  table,  a 
small  cracked  look- 
ing glass,  a  faded 
paper  window-shade, 
and  a  pair  of  bellows 
EUNICE  MAHWEE.  composed  the  furni- 

ture. On  the  table  was  a  wooden  dish  nearly  filled  with  lam- 
prey eels,  a  fish  which  one  of  the  Moravians  of  the  company  said 
was  often  mentioned  in  the  records  of  the  mission  there  as  a 
wholesome  and  abundant  article  of  food  in  the  settlement. 


458  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Eunice  had  evidently  been  a  stout,  thick-set  woman  in  her 
prime,  a  little  below  the  ordinary  height  of  her  sex.  She  had 
strongly-marked  Indian  features,  evidently  lighted  in  earlier 
life  by  brilliant  black  eyes.  Age  had  now  made  its  furrows 
everywhere  upon  her  face,  and  somewhat  dimmed  her  vision ; 
but  her  voice,  low  and  clear,  had  all  the  force  and  melody  of 
that  of  her  young  womanhood.  Her  mind  was  strong,  but  a 
little  sluggish;  and  when,  by  questions,  we  tried  to  draw  from 
her  the  salient  points  in  the  story  of  her  long  life,  she  would  sit 
a  moment,  with  her  eyes  fixed  upon  the  fire,  to  summon  tardy 
memory  to  give  us  answers.  She  never  failed ;  and  by  patient 
questioning  and  more  patient  waiting  our  curiosity  was  satisfied. 

Eunice  was  born  in  Derby,  Connecticut,  between  the  Nauga- 
tuck  and  Housatonic  rivers,  in  the  year  1759.  Her  father,  Gideon 
Mahwee's  second  son,  was  named  Joseph,  and  wore  the  costume 
of  the  white  people.  She  remembered  a  visit  made  to  him  by 
her  grandfather  and  a  few  friends,  when  she  was  a  little  child. 
They  were  dressed  in  the  Indian  manner,  and  were  entertained 
at  dinner,  of  which  they  partook  with  their  fingers  out  of  a  huge 
kettle  of  meat  and  vegetables,  all  sitting  around  it  on  the  ground. 
Their  wild  appearance  frightened  her  and  she  hid  in  the  bushes 
for  fear  of  being  eaten  up  by  them.  She  lived  in  Derby  until 
she  was  married  to  a  Narraganset  Indian  named  John  Sutnux, 
who,  almost  immediately  afterward,  went  to  the  north  with  Con- 
necticut troops,  and  was  engaged  in  the  short  campaign  that 
ended  in  the  capture  of  Burgoyne  and  his  army  at  Saratoga. 

At  that  time  there  were  only  five  Indians  in  Derby,  and  soon 
after  her  husband's  return  from  camp  they  settled  among  the 
Schaghticooks  at  Kent,  where  there  was  then  no  sachem,  her  grand- 
father being  dead,  and  no  person  of  unmixed  blood  remaining 
who  might  bear  the  honor.  His  memory  was  dear  to  the  people, 
for  he  had  been  a  father  to  them,  telling  them  where  and  when 
to  plant  and  sow,  and  reap  and  gather.  He  allowed  no  drinking 
of  fermented  liquors ;  and  while  he  lived  the  tribe  flourished  and 
increased.  They  were  so  numerous  when  Eunice  first  went 
among  them  that  she  was  timid  for  a  long  time,  they  seemed  so 
wild.  After  Gideon's  death  the  tribal  bonds  became  weakened. 


THE  LAST  OF  THE  PEQUODS.  459 

Intemperance  and  idleness  marred  their  prosperity,  and  the  com- 
munity began  to  scatter.  At  the  opening  of  the  revolution  there 
were  yet  a  sufficient  number  to  send  one  hundred  warriors  to  the 
field.  In  that  war  many  of  them  perished. 

Eunice's  husband  died  at  Kent,  and  she  afterward  married 
Peter  Sherman.  She  had  borne  nine  children,  and  had  outlived 
them  all.  Skillful  in  basket  making,  many  years  of  her  woman- 
hood in  the  early  part  of  this  century  were  spent  in  that  business. 
She  often  wandered  over  the  mountains  into  the  Weebetuck 
valley  (now  Dover  plains),  selling  her  wares,  and  was  made  wel- 
come by  everybody.  Many  a  night  was  spent  by  her  in  the 
hospitable  mansion  of  the  estate  on  which  the  writer  now  resides, 
when  the  young  people  of  the  family  would  listen  during  a  long 
evening  to  her  marvelous  stories  of  the  past.  One  of  these,  now 
almost  four-score  years  of  age,  and  other  old  residents  of  this 
region,  have  a  vivid  recollection  of  the  vigorous  and  wandering 
Eunice,  the  basket-woman,  and  also  of  her  contemporary  and 
friend  of  the  Stockbridge  Indians,  John  Konkepot,  who  was  edu- 
cated at  Nazareth  Hall,  in  Bethlehem,  by  the  Moravians.  He 
was  better  known  as  Doctor  Konkepot,  because  he  was  famous 
for  his  certain  cures  of  the  bite  of  the  rattlesnake,  as  well  as  of 
almost  every  other  disease,  by  the  use  of  Indian  medicines. 
Strong  drink  became  his  enemy.  He  had  no  cure  for  that  ser- 
pent which  "  stingeth  like  an  adder,"  and  he  died  its  victim. 

Somewhat  late  in  life  Eunice  again  became  a  widow;  and 
when,  in  1844,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five  years,  she  was  baptized 
and  received  into  the  Congregational  church  at  Kent,  she  took 
her  maiden  name  of  Mahwee,  by  which  she  was  ever  afterward 
known.  In  fact,  she  had  assumed  it  on  the  death  of  her  second 
husband,  many  years  before. 

The  Schaghticook  reservation  was  originally  more  extended 
than  when  we  visited  it.  It  was  bounded  on  the  north  by  the 
creek  which  gave  it  its  name,  oh  the  south  by  the  Weebetuck, 
on  the  east  by  the  Housatonic  river,  and  on  the  west  by  a  line 
on  the  mountains.  Sachem  Gideon  laid  out  this  tract  into  oblong 
strips  extending  from  the  river  to  the  mountain,  and  assigned 
one  to  each  family.  This  partition  gave  to  each  the  right  to 


460  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

hunt  in  the  mountains  and  to  fish  in  the  river.  He  compelled 
each  family  to  till  their  land  and  live  off  of  the  products,  and 
thereby  discouraged  laziness. 

Eunice  was  still  living  on  land  assigned  to  her  family,  and  she 
was  so  much  attached  to  it  that  she  did  not  want  to  leave  it,  even 
for  an  hour.  She  spoke  sadly  of  the  decay  of  her  people,  and 
almost  contemptuously  of  those  whose  blood  was  mixed  with 
other  than  that  of  the  Indian  race.  She  remembered  when 
there  was  a  fair  degree  of  prosperity  in  the  settlement,  the  inhabit- 
ants quite  numerous  and  the  pappooses  in  the  fields  as  plentiful 
as  squirrels.  Alas  !  at  the  time  of  our  visit  not  more  than  thirty 
persons  with  the  Indian  purple  in  their  veins  were  inhabitants  of 
the  reservation,  and  these  were  of  almost  every  shade  of  brown. 
Eunice  spoke  with  honest  pride  of  her  own  pure  blood,  and  said 
she  was  the  very  last  one  of  the  Pequods  whose  pedigree  was 
free  from  the  taint  of  amalgamation. 

Our  questions  concerning  the  past  excited  Eunice's  memory  of 
her  youthful  days.  She  told  us  that  even  so  late  as  in  her  young 
womanhood  she  had  heard  her  people  declare  how  much  they 
loved  the  Moravians,  and  delighted  to  relate  the  manner  and 
incidents  of  their  visits. 

Those  faithful  missionaries  came  first  one  and  then  another, 
singly,  stayed  a  while,  and  returned ;  and  then  they  came  again, 
with  their  women.  During  the  few  years  that  they  ministered 
in  Eastern  Duchess  they  baptized  no  less  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty  Indians  in  the  Schaghticook  settlement. 

Perceiving  signs  of  weariness  in  the  face  of  the  venerable  cen- 
tenarian, we  bade  her  farewell  and  continued  our  journey,  satis- 
fied that  we  had  been  face  to  face  with  the  last  survivor  of  a  once 
powerful  nation,  whose  race  inhabited  our  continent  ages,  perhaps, 
before  Europeans  discovered  it  —  a  race  now  rapidly  fading  away, 
there  remaining  not  more  than  three  hundred  thousand  within 
the  broad  domain  of  our  republic  of  the  vast  multitude  who  were 
here  when  De  Soto  and  his  fellow-invaders,  a  little  more  than 
three  hundred  years  ago,  swept  over  the  gulf  region  from  the 
peninsula  of  Flowers  to  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains. Crawford's  grand  figure  of  The  Last  of  his  Race  is  a 
prophecy  soon  to  be  fulfilled. 


THE  TRADITION  OF  AN  INDIAN  ATTA  CK  ON  HAD- 
LEY, MASS.,  IN  1675.' 

[Head  before  the  Pocomtuck  Valley  (Mass.)  Memorial  Association,  Feb.  24,  1874,  and  before  the 
New  England  Historical  Genealogical  Society,  May  6, 1874.] 

BY  GEORGE  SHELDON.  ' 

There  is  probably  not  one  before  me,  who  has  not  heard  the 
thrilling  story  of  the  regicides,  Edward  Whalley  and  William 
Goffe,  two  of  the  English  judges  who  sent  king  Charles  I.  to  the 
executioner's  block  in  1649 ;  of  their  flight  to  New-England  on 
the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  to  the  throne  in  1660 ;  of  their  suc- 
cessful concealment  at  New  Haven  and  other  places,  while  the 
minions  of  Charles  II.  hunted  them  through  every  town  in  the 
colonies ;  of  their  final  haven  of  refuge  in  the  house  of  the  Rev. 
John  Russell  in  Hadley ;  and  more  especially  of  the  angel  who 
appeared  Sept.  1,  1675,  in  the  person  of  General  Goffe,  to  deliver 
Hadley  from  the  power  of  the  enemy,  for  this  story  has  been 
repeated  in  one  form  or  another  all  over  the  civilized  world. 

The  alleged  appearance  of  Goffe  at  Hadley,  whether  considered 
in  connection  with  the  supposed  miracle  or  as  the  heroic  act  of  a 
brave  man,  has  been  a  fruitful  theme  for  historians  and  an  inspira- 
tion for  poets.  Divines  have  seen  in  it  a  special  interposition  of 
Providence;  the  champions  of  liberty  have  pointed  to  it  as  new 
evidence  of  the  valor  of  that  strong  defender  of  the  rights  of  man ; 
and  the  mighty  "  Wizard  of  the  North  "  has  woven  it  into  the 
pages  of  delightful  romance.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  I  make 
bold  to  ask  your  attention  while  the  story  of  the  guardian  angel 
of  Hadley  is  examined  from  a  new  point  of  view,  which  it  is  but 
fair  to  say,  in  the  beginning,  is  that  of  a  skeptic.  The  origin  of 
the  story,  with  its  growth  and  development  under  the  hands  of 
the  leading  historians,  will  be  shown,  and  such  conclusions 
drawn  as  the  premises  may  seem  to  warrant. 

The  Rev.  Increase  Mather,  in  his  history  of  the  war  with  the 


1  Reprinted  from  the  New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register  (Boston),  for  October, 
1874. 


462  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Indians,  published  at  the  close  of  Philip's  war  in  1677,  makes 
this  statement :  "  On  the  1st  of  September,  1675,  one  of  the 
churches  in  Boston  was  seeking  the  face  of  God,  by  fasting  and 
prayer  before  him  ;  also  that  very  day  the  church  in  Hadley  was 
before  the  Lord  in  the  same  way,  but  were  driven  from  the  holy 
service  they  were  attending  by  a  most  sudden  and  violent  alarm 
which  routed  them  the  whole  day  after." 

Nothing  more  is  heard  of  this  affair  for  eighty-nine  years,  when, 
in  1764,  Gov.  Hutchinson  published  his  valuable  history  of 
Massachusetts.  In  the  text  of  this  work  he  says :  "  Sept.  the 
first,  1675,  Hadley  was  attacked  upon  a  fast  day,  while  the 
people  were  at  church,  which  broke  up  the  service  and  obliged 
them  to  spend  the  day  in  a  very  different  exercise."  The  story 
has  here  advanced  one  step  :  Mather  having  spoken  only  of  an 
alarm,  which  with  Hutchinson  has  become  an  attack. 

"When  Hutchinson  wrote  he  was  in  possession  of  a  diary  kept 
by  Goffe  for  many  years,  from  which  he  gives  an  account  of  the 
wanderings  and  concealments  of  the  regicides.  In  a  marginal 
note  he  adds :  "  I  am  loth  to  omit  an  anecdote  handed  down 
through  Gov.  Leverett's  family."  Then  follows  this  anecdote : 
"  The  town  of  Hadley  was  alarmed  by  Indians  in  1675  in  the 
time  of  public  worship.  The  people  were  in  the  utmost  confu- 
sion. Suddenly  a  grave  elderly  person  appeared  in  the  midst  of 
them.  In  his  mien  and  dress  he  differed  from  the  rest  of  the 
people.  He  not  only  encouraged  them  to  defend  themselves, 
but  put  himself  at  their  head,  rallied,  instructed  and  led  them  on 
to  encounter  the  enemy,  who  by  this  means  were  repulsed.  As 
suddenly,  the  deliverer  of  Hadley  disappeared.  The  people  were 
left  in  consternation,  utterly  unable  to  account  for  this  pheno- 
menon. It  is  not  probable  that  they  were  ever  able  to  explain 
it."  It  will  be  perceived  that  this  is  a  great  advance  in  the 
story,  but  as  yet  there  is  no  angel,  only  a  mystery. 

President  Stiles,  of  Yale  College,  in  his  History  of  the  Judges, 
published  thirty  years  later,  writes  as  follows : 

"  Though  told  with  some  variation  in  various  parts  of  New- 
England,  the  true  story  of  the  angel  is  this.  ****** 
That  pious  congregation  were  observing  a  fast  at  Hadley  on  the 


THE  TRADITION  OF  AN  INDIAN  ATTACK  ON  HADLEY.    463 

occasion  of  this  war ;  and  being  at  public  worship  in  the  meet- 
ing house  there  on  a  fast  day,  Sept.  1,  1675,  were  suddenly  sur- 
rounded and  surprised  by  a  body  of  Indians.  It  was  the  usage 
in  the  frontier  towns,  and  even  at  New  Haven,  in  those  Indian 
wars,  for  a  select  number  of  the  congregation  to  go  armed  to 
public  worship.  It  was  so  at  Hadley  at  this  time.  The  people 
immediately  took  to  their  arms,  but  were  thrown  into  great  con- 
sternation and  confusion.  Had  Hadley  been  taken,  the  discovery 
of  the  judges  had  been  inevitable.  Suddenly,  and  in  the  midst 
of  the  people,  there  appeared  a  man  of  a  very  venerable  aspect, 
and  different  from  the  inhabitants  in  his  apparel,  who  took  the 
command,  arrayed  and  ordered  them  in  the  best  military  manner, 
and,  under  his  direction,  they  repelled  and  routed  the  Indians, 
and  the  town  was  saved.  He  immediately  vanished,  and  the  in- 
habitants could  not  account  for  the  phenomenon,  but  by  consider- 
ing that  person  as  an  angel  sent  of  God  upon  that  special 
occasion  for  their  deliverance ;  and  for  some  time  after,  said 
and  believed  that  they  had  been  delivered  and  saved  by  an 
angel.  Nor  did  they  know  or  conceive  otherwise  till  fifteen  or 
twenty  years  after,  when  it  at  length  became  known  at  Hadley 
that  the  two  judges  had  been  secreted  there ;  which  probably 
they  did  not  know  till  after  Mr.  Russell's  death  in  1692.  This 
story,  however,  of  the  angel  at  Hadley  was  before  this  universally 
diffused  through  Few  England,  by  means  of  the  memorable 
Indian  war  of  1675.  The  mystery  was  unriddled  after  the  revo- 
lution [of  1688  in  England],  when  it  became  not  so  very  dan- 
gerous to  have  it  known  that  the  judges  had  received  an  asylum 
here,  and  that  Goffe  was  actually  in  Hadley  at  that  time.  The 
angel  was  certainly  General  Goffe,  for  Whalley  was  superan- 
uated  in  1675."  In  the  above  account  the  angel  is  full-fledged  ? 
and  the  outline  of  the  battle  is  given  for  the  first  time  in  print. 
In  1824,  General  Epaphras  Hoyt,  of  Deerfield,  Mass.,  published 
some  result  of  his  studies  in  his  Antiquarian  Researches.  In  this 
work,  after  a  detailed  account  of  an  attack  on  Hadley  by  Indians^ 
June  12, 1676,  he  adds  :  "  A  curious  circumstance  occurred  in  this 
attack.  "When  the  people  were  in  great  consternation  and  rallying 
to  oppose  the  Indians,  a  man  of  venerable  aspect,  differing  from 


464  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

the  inhabitants  in  his  apparel,  appeared,  and  assuming  com- 
mand, arrayed  them  in  the  best  manner  for  defence,  evincing 
much  knowledge  of  military  tactics ;  and  by  his  advice  and  ex- 
ample continued  to  animate  the  men  throughout  the  attack. 
When  the  Indians  drew  off,  the  stranger  disappeared,  and  noth- 
ing further  was  heard  of  him.  Who  the  deliverer  was,  none 
could  inform  or  conjecture,  but  by  supposing,  as  was  common  at 
that  day,  that  Hadley  had  been  saved  by  its  guardian  angel.  It 
will  be  recollected  that,  at  this  time,  the  two  judges,  Whalley 
and  Goffe,  were  secreted  in  the  village,  at  the  house  of  the  Kev. 
Mr.  Russell.  The  supposed  angel  was  then  no  other  than 
General  Goffe,  who,  seeing  the  village  in  imminent  danger, 
put  all  at  risk,  left  his  concealment,  mixed  with  the  inhabitants, 
and  animated  them  to  a  vigorous  defence."  Observe  that  the 
assault  has  now  become  a  dangerous  one,  a  more  particular 
account  of  the  principal  actor  is  given,  but  the  whole  affair  is 
dated  nine  or  ten  months  later :  June,  1676,  instead  of  Sept., 
1675. 

Holmes,  in  his  Annals  of  America,  quotes  Mather,  Hutchinson, 
Stiles  and  Hoyt.  He  fully  credits  the  story,  but  doubts  whether 
Hoyt  is  justified  in  placing  the  appearance  of  Goffe  at  a  later 
date. 

In  his  address,  at  the  bi-centennial  celebration  at  Hadley,  June 
8,  1859,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Huntington,  with  unquestioning  faith,  says : 
"  It  was,  as  everybody  knows,  in  the  attack  of  the  Indians,  Sept. 
1,  1675,  a  day  of  fasting,  while  the  people  were  assembled  in 
their  meeting-house,  that  Goffe,  willing  to  incur  the  sacrifice  of 
exposing  his  own  life  to  the  double  enemy,  one  here  in  the 
bushes,  and  another  on  the  British  throne,  came  suddenly  forth 
from  his  hiding  place,  and  by  valor  and  skill,  arraying  the 
affrighted  worshipers  in  ranks,  and  putting  himself  at  their 
head,  drove  the  assailants  back." 

He  does  not  believe  that  the  meeting-house  was  surrounded, 
but  that  the  engagement  occurred  east  of  the  village,  adding ; 
"  this  accords  with  a  traditional  feature  of  the  story  which  I 
heard  for  the  first  time  last  winter.  An  aged  woman,  in  a  remote 
part  of  the  town,  says  she  had  heard  that  Goffe  saw  the  Indians 


THE  TRADITION  OF  AN  INDIAN  ATTACK  ON  HADLEY.    465 

entering  the  town  from  the  mountains  at  a  distance."  As  if  the 
subtle  red  man,  who  was  never  seen  till  he  struck  his  blow,  could 
have  been  discovered  coming  over  the  hills  at  a  distance  like  an 
army  with  baggage  and  banners  ! 

Dr.  Holland,  in  his  History  of  Western  Massachusetts,  with  no 
apology  for  a  change  of  time  and  circumstance,  and  with  no 
apparent  misgivings  as  to  the  fact  of  the  attack,  fixes  the  date  as 
June  12,  1676,  and  gives  this  circumstantial  account  of  the  event 
in  question.  "  The  attack  was  made  with  the  desperate  deter- 
mination to  succeed.  On  the  preceding  night  they  had  laid  an 
ambuscade  at  the  southern  extremity  of  the  town,  calculating  to 
sweep  the  place  from  the  north,  and  by  driving  the  inhabitants 
southward  to  force  them  into  the  snare  there  set  for  them.  The 
enemy  were  warmly  received  at  the  palisades.  At  one  point  on 
the  north  the  palisades  were  pierced,  and  the  Indians  succeeded 
in  gaining  possession  of  a  house,  but  were  at  last  forced  out  of 
it  and  beaten  back  with  loss.  At  this  moment  of  extreme  con- 
fusion and  alarm,  the  course  of  events  was  under  the  keen  survey 
of  a  pair  of  eyes  that  were  strangers  to  all  but  one  or  two  fami- 
lies in  the  town.  They  were  eyes  practiced  in  military  affairs, 
and  belonged  to  a  man  who  held  the  stake  of  life  on  the  issue  of 
the  conflict.  Unable  longer  to  remain  an  idle  spectator  of  the 
struggle,  he  resolved  to  issue  forth.  Suddenly  he  stood  in  the 
midst  of  the  affrighted  villagers,  a  man  marked  in  his  dress, 
noble  in  carriage  and  venerable  in  appearance.  Self-appointed, 
he  in  a  measure  assumed  the  command,  arranged  and  ordered 
the  English  forces  in  the  best  military  manner,  encouraged  here, 
commanded  there,  rallied  the  men  everywhere,  filled  them  with 
hope  and  firmness  on  every  hand,  and  at  last  succeeded  in  repell- 
ing the  overwhelming  numbers  that  swarmed  on  all  sides.  The 
discharge  of  a  piece  of  ordnance  put  them  to  flight,  and  Major 
Talcott,  going  over  from  Northampton  with  his  forces,  joined 
the  victorious  villagers  and  soldiers  of  Hadley  in  chasing  the 
enemy  into  the  woods.  This  feat  was  accomplished  with  the  loss 
of  only  two  or  three  men  on  the  part  of  the  English.  But  the 
mysterious  stranger,  who  had  been  partly  if  not  mainly  instru- 
mental in  effecting  this  thorough  rout,  had  retired  from  sight 
31 


466  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

as  suddenly  as  he  had  made  his  advent.  Who  he  was,  none 
knew.  That  such  a  man  could  live  upon  a  plantation  and  not  be 
known  was  not  deemed  possible  ;  and  it  is  not  strange  that  in  the 
superstitious  spirit  of  the  times  he  should  have  been  regarded 
by  the  people  as  '  an  angel  sent  of  God  upon  this  special  occasion 
for  their  deliverance.' ' 

Sylvester  Judd,  the  most  noted  antiquary  of  the  Connecticut 
valley,  writing  one  hundred  years  later  than  Hutchinson,  can 
find  no  new  evidence  in  support  of  the  oft-repeated  tale.  He 
quotes  Mather  and  Hutchinson,  criticizes  sharply  the  account 
by  Stiles,  thinks  Hoyt  mistook  the  date  of  the  occurrence,  and 
says  :  "  The  attack  was  undoubtedly  upon  the  outskirts  of  the 
town,  probably  at  the  north  end.  The  approach  of  the  Indians 
may  have  been  observed  by  Goffe  from  his  chamber,  which  had 
a  window  toward  the  east.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe  there 
was  a  large  body  of  Indians,  but  the  people  being  unaccustomed 
to  war,  needed  Goffe  to  arrange  and  order  them.  The  Indians 
appear  to  have  fled  after  a  short  skirmish."  Thus  the  propor- 
tions of  the  story  are  reduced  by  Judd.  The  meeting-house  was 
not  surrounded,  the  attack  was  at  the  north  end  of  the  town,  and 
there  was  but  a  slight  skirmish  after  all. 

However,  this  matter  is  not  to  rest  here.  Palfrey's  History  of 
New  England,  published  in  1865,  contains  so  vivid  and  graphic 
a  picture  of  the  encounter,  that  we  can  almost  see  the  wily  foe 
stealing  down  upon  the  quiet  village,  the  confusion  and  dismay 
when  their  savage  war-whoop  burst  upon  the  astounded  congrega- 
tion of  worshipers,  the  awe-struck  look  but  ready  obedience  of  the 
soldiers  and  citizens  as  the  old  hero,  Goffe,  appeared  among 
them  and  gave  the  word  of  command.  We  can  almost  hear  the 
tramp  of  the  steadied  line,  the  sharp  crash  of  musketry,  and  the 
final  rush  of  victory.  I  cannot  forbear  quoting  him  at  length : 
"  At  the  end  of  another  week  separate  attacks  were  made  upon 
two  of  the  settlements  on  the  Connecticut.  AtDeerfield,  several 
houses  and  barns  were  burned,  and  two  men  killed.  At  Hadley, 
from  which  place  the  Indians  had  observed  most  of  the  garrison 
to  be  absent,  the  inhabitants  were  keeping  a  fast,  when  their  de- 
votion was  disturbed  by  the  outcries  of  a  furious  enemy.  Seiz- 


THE  TRADITION  OF  AN  INDIAN  ATTACK  ON  HADLEY.    467 

ing  the  muskets  which  stood  by  their  sides,  the  men  rushed  out 
of  their  meeting-house  and  hastily  fell  into  line  ;  but  the  sudden- 
ness of  the  assault  from  a  foe  now  enclosing  them  all  around,  was 
bewildering,  and  they  seemed  about  to  give  way,  when  it  is  said 
an  unknown  man,  of  advanced  years  and  ancient  garb,  appeared 
among  them,  and  abruptly  assumed  the  direction  with  the  bear- 
ing and  tone  of  one  used  to  battles.  His  sharp  word  of  com- 
mand instantly  restored  order,  musket  and  pike  were  handled 
with  nerve,  the  invaders  were  driven  in  headlong  flight  out  of 
the  town.  "When  the  pursuers  collected  again,  their  deliverer 
had  disappeared,  nor  could  any  man  get  an  answer  by  what  instru- 
ment Providence  had  interposed  for  their  rescue.  It  was  the 
regicide  Colonel  Gofie.  Sitting  at  a  window  of  Mr.  Russell's 
house,  while  his  neighbors  were  at  worship,  he  had  seen  the 
stealthy  savages  coming  down  over  the  hills.  The  old  ardor 
took  possession  of  him  once  more ;  he  rushed  out  to  win  one 
more  victory  for  God's  people  and  then  went  back  to  the  retire- 
ment from  which  no  man  knows  that  he  emerged  again." 

The  story  has  now  attained  full  stature.  Mather's  alarm  has 
become  a  furious  battle,  victory  wavering  for  awhile  between  the 
combatants. 

I  now  quote  from  the  Rev.  Chandler  Robbins's  Regicides 
Sheltered  in  New  England.  "  In  the  summer  of  1676,  while 
Philip's  war  was  raging,  a  powerful  force  of  Indians  made  a 
sudden  assault  upon  Hadley.  The  inhabitants  at  the  time  were 
assembled  in  their  meeting-house,  observing  a  day  of  fasting  and 
prayer,  but,  in  apprehension  of  an  attack,  they  had  taken  their 
muskets  with  them  to  the  house  of  God.  While  they  were  en- 
gaged in  their  devotions,  the  younger  of  the  solitary  captives, 
who  perhaps  taking  advantage  of  the  absence  of  observers,  to 
enjoy  a  brief  interval  of  comparative  freedom,  may  have  been 
seated  at  an  open  window,  or  walking  near  the  house,  discovered 
the  approach  of  the  wily  foe,  and  hastened  to  give  the  alarm. 
With  the  air  of  one  accustomed  to  command,  he  hastly  drew  up 
the  little  band  of  villagers  in  the  most  approved  military  order, 
put  himself  at  their  head,  and  by  his  own  ardor  and  energy  in- 
spired them  with  such  confidence,  that  rushing  upon  the  swarm- 


468  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

ing  savages,  they  succeeded,  with,  the  loss  of  only  two  or  three 
men,  in  driving  them  back  into  the  wilderness."  Here  again 
the  details  of  the  affair  are  essentially  changed.  Goffe  discovers 
the  Indians,  gives  the  alarm,  and  leads  the  attack,  which  is  made 
by  the  whites.  Their  loss  is  given,  and  I  do  not  despair  of  yet 
seeing  a  list  of  the  names  of  the  killed,  wounded  and  missing. 

I  will  lastly  quote  John  Farmer,  secretary  of  the  JSTew  Hamp- 
shire Historical  Society,  who  gives,  as  his  authority,  the  Rev. 
Phineas  Cooke,  a  native  of  Hadley.  With  such  endorsement 
this  extract  should  receive  especial  attention,  and  have  due  weight. 

It  was  while  the  regicides  resided  with  Mr.  Russell,  "  and 
while  his  people  were  observing  a  fast  on  account  of  the  Philip's 
war,  Sept.  1,  1675,  that  a  party  of  Indians  collected  and  were 
about  to  attack  the  inhabitants  while  assembled  in  the  meeting- 
house. Some  accounts  represent  the  scene  to  have  occurred  on 
the  Sabbath,  but  all  agree  that  it  happened  during  a  time  ot 
public  worship,  and  while  almost  the  entire  population  were 
collected.  The  party  approached  the  town  from  the  north,  with 
the  manifest  design  to  surprise  the  people  at  meeting,  before 
they  could  be  prepared  to  make  any  effectual  resistance.  Gen. 
Goffe  and  Gen.  Whalley were  the  only  persons  remain- 
ing at  home  at  Mr.  Russell's.  Goffe  saw  from  his  chamber 
window  the  enemy  collecting,  and  approaching  towards  the 
meeting-house,  and  knowing  the  peril  of  the  congregation,  felt 
himself  constrained  to  give  them  notice,  although  it  might  lead 
to  the  discovery  of  his  character  and  his  place  of  concealment. 
He  went  in  haste  to  the  house  of  God,  apprised  the  assembly 
that  the  enemy  were  near,  and  preparation  must  be  immediately 
made  for  the  defence.  All  was  alarm  and  trepidation.  '  What 
shall  we  do,  who  will  lead  us  ? '  was  the  cry  from  every  quarter. 
In  the  confusion  the  stranger  said,  'I  will  lead,  follow  me.'  Im- 
mediately all  obe}Ted  their  unknown  general  and  prepared  to 
march  against  the  enemy.  Though  some  of  them  were  armed, 
yet  their  principal  weapon  of  defence  was  an  old  iron  cannon, 
sent  there  sometime  before  by  the  government ;  but  no  one  of 
the  inhabitants  was  sufficiently  skilled  in  military  tactics  to 
manage  it  to  much  purpose.  The  marvellous  stranger  knew, 


THE  TRADITION  OF  AN  INDIAN  ATTACK  ON  HADLEY.    469 

and  having  loaded  it  proceeded  to  the  attack.  Beholding  this 
formidable  array,  the  Indians  retreated  a  short  distance,  and 
took  refuge  in  a  deserted  house  on  Connecticut  river.  The 
cannon  was  so  directed,  that  when  discharged,  the  contents  threw 
down  the  top  of  the  stone  chimney  about  the  heads  of  the  Indians, 
who  took  fright,  arid  fled  with  great  terror  and  dismay.  The 
commander  ordered  his  company  to  pursue,  take  and  destroy  as 
many  of  the  enemy  as  they  could,  and  while  they  were  in  pur- 
suit of  the  Indians,  he  retreated  unobserved,  and  soon  rejoined 
Whallcy  in  their  private  chamber.  When  the  pursuers  returned 
he  was  gone,  and  nothing  was  heard  of  him  for  years  afterward. 
The  good  people  supposed  their  deliverer  was  an  angel,  who 
having  completed  his  business,  had  returned  to  celestial  quarters. 
Arid  when  we  consider  his  venerable  appearance,  his  silvery 
locks,  and  his  pale  visage,  together  with  the  disposition  of  the 
pious  of  that  period  to  see  a  special  providence  in  events  which 
they  could  not  comprehend,  and  the  sudden  manner  of  his  dis- 
appearance, it  is  not  surprising  they  supposed  their  deliverer 
came  from  another  world." 

Let  us  try  to  imagine  the  gentle  savages  considerately  delaying 
their  attack  until  the  confusion  had  subsided,  and  the  silver- 
haired  leader  had  loaded  to  his  mind  this  new  instrument  for 
bush  fighting,  and  then  retreating  in  a  body  to  a  deserted  house  ! 
The  absurdity  of  this  account  is  only  equalled  by  the  credulity 
of  the  writer. 

We  will  now  review  in  an  inverse  order  these  successive  ac- 
counts of  the  affair  at  Hadley,  that  we  may  discover  their  basis 
and  historical  value. 

Nothing  more  need  be  said  of  the  Farmer  and  Cooke  version 
of  the  story. 

Confused  by  the  conflicting  accounts  of  the  local  historians 
(Hoyt,  Judd,  Huntington  and  Holland),  not  satisfied  of  the  truth 
of  either,  but  seeing  no  ground  for  their  rejection,  Dr.  Bobbins 
seems  to  have  compromised  with  himself  by  endorsing  the  lead- 
ing points  of  each.  He  makes  no  claim  to  new  sources  of  inform- 
ation ;  his  only  references  being  Dr.  Holland's  History  of  West- 
ern Massachusetts,  Dr.  Huntington's  address,  before  referred  to, 
and  Sir  Walter  Scott's  Peveril  of  the  Peak. 


470  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

While  Dr.  Palfrey  gives  such  a  glowing  description  of  the 
assault,  he  not  only  fails  to  bring  any  evidence  to  support  it,  but 
throws  a  shadow  over  what  have  been  considered  the  best  au- 
thorities. In  reference  to  the  story  he  remarks,  in  a  marginal 
note,  "I  am  sorry  to  say  that  I  can  find  no  other  authority  than 
Hutchinson,"  and  "  am  disappointed  in  the  hope  of  finding  con- 
firmation of  it  in  the  Connecticut  river  records  or  traditions.  I 
can  hear  of  no  traditions  that  are  not  traceable  to  Hutchinson's 
history. 

Dr.  Holland,  though  giving  us  fuller  particulars  than  preceding 
writers,  quotes  no  more  recent  authority  to  justify  his  interpre- 
tation of  the  story. 

As  Dr.  Huntington,  with  few  exceptions,  gives  Judd  credit  for 
the  historical  facts  of  his  address,  his  account  and  Judd's  will  be 
treated  as  one.  The  latter,  in  his  careful  and  minute  search  after 
materials  for  a  history  of  Hadley,  has  found  absolutely  nothing 
to  confirm  the  Leverett  family  tradition,  and  after  his  severe 
scrutiny  it  seems  safe  to  assert  that  nothing  ever  will  be  found. 
Both  were  believers  in  the  whole  story  as  given  by  Hutchinson. 
They  attempt  to  account  for  the  silence  of  Hubbard  and  other 
historians  on  the  ground,  says  Judd,  that  "It  was  necessary  at 
that  time  and  long  after  to  throw  a  veil  over  the  transactions  of 
that  day,"  or,  as  Huntington  expresses  it,  "  considerations  of 
policy  fully  account  for  the  obscure  allusions  in  the  contempo- 
raneous records  "  —  these  considerations  being,  of  course,  to 
prevent  the  betrayal  of  the  secret  of  the  concealment  of  the 
judges  at  Mr.  Russell's. 

Were  it  only  a  question  as  to  the  silence  of  such  men,  on  the 
appearance  of  General  Gojfe,  the  argument  would  be  conclusive  ; 
but  when  made  to  cover  their  silence  in  regard  to  the  attack  upon 
Hadley,  as  well,  it  fails  to  convince.  On  the  contrary,  the  omis- 
sion in  Hubbard's  history  of  so  important  a  fact  as  the  first  attack 
of  the  Indians  upon  a  village  in  the  Connecticut  valley,  must 
have  provoked  inquiry  as  to  the  cause  of  such  an  omission,  and 
inquiry  at  Hadley  under  the  circumstances  must  have  resulted  in 
the  discovery  of  the  fugitives.  Suspicion  had  already  been  di- 
rected here,  and  their  very  house  of  refuge  had  been  searched  by 


THE  TRADITION  OF  AN  INDIAN  ATTACK  ON  HADLEY.   471 

zealous  agents  of  the  crown.  Hubbard  was  undoubtedly  ac- 
quainted with  these  facts.  Hadley,  at  the  time  in  question,  pro- 
bably contained  about  five  hundred  inhabitants,  every  man, 
woman  and  child  of  whom,  save  those  in  the  secret,  must  have 
been  filled  with  awe  and  amazement  at  their  supernatural  de- 
liverance. Signs  and  wonders  were  familiar  to  the  people  of 
those  days,  but  no  event  of  such  significance  had  occurred  in  the 
history  of  New  England,  and  the  news  of  such  a  marvellous 
providence  must  soon  have  spread  over  all  the  colonies  ;  especially 
as  Hadley  became  the  head  quarters  of  military  operations,  and 
within  that  same  week  hundreds  of  soldiers  were  collected  there 
from  all  parts  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  Silence  as  to 
this  event  might  perhaps  have  been  imposed  upon  the  historians 
and  ministers,  who  were  the  chief  letter-writers  of  that  period, 
but  it  is  inconceivable  that  the  lips  of  this  great  multitude  could 
have  been  closed,  while  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case  no  good 
reason  could  be  given  for  silence.  Well  might  the  people  say, 
"Jehovah  hath  bared  His  arm  in  our  defence.  Let  us  proclaim 
from  the  house-tops  his  wonderful  interposition  for  our  deliver- 
ance, and  spread  the  glorious  tidings  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land,  that  we  may  thereby  encourage  the  armies 
of  the  Lord,  and  strike  terror  to  the  hearts  of  our  superstitious 
foe."  To  such  an  argument  there  could  have  been  no  opposition 
without  betraying  the  fugitives. 

If  the  appearance  of  Goffe  were  a  fact,  it  would  be  strange 
indeed  that  so  imposing  an  event  should  have  been  entirely  lost 
sight  of  save  in  the  traditions  of  one  family,  that  of  Governor 
Leverett.  Why  have  we  no  trace  of  it  as  well  in  the  traditions 
of  the 'Russell  family,  the  families  of  Nash,  Wells,  Hawks  or 
Dickinson,  of  Hoyt  or  Barnard  ?  for  the  ancestors  of  those  bear- 
ing these  names  now  among  us,  were  living  in  Hadley  at  this 
period,  and  must  have  been  eye-witnesses  of  the  events ;  or  in 
the  families  of  Catlin,  Stebbins,  Clesson  or  Sheldon,  whose  ances- 
tors lived  hard  by  in  Northampton  ?  And  it  is  well  nigh  impossi- 
ble, that  a  secret  in  the  keeping  of  so  many  people  could  by  any 
means  escape  the  keen  scent  of  that  subservient  and  untiring 
spy  on  New  England,  Edwar-1  Randolph,  backed  as  he  was  by  a 
royal  commission  and  the  power  of  Charles  the  Second. 


472  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

Hoyt,  while  relating  what  he  believed  the  facts  of  the  story, 
hut  dating  it  later,  says  in  a  marginal  note  that  he  "  finds  no 
evidence  of  any  attack  Sept.  1,"  and  "  that  Huhhard,  who  wrote 
his  narrative  from  facts  collected  during  the  war  and  published 
immediately  after,  should  have  wholly  omitted  to  notice  an 
attack  at  the  time  mentioned  by  Hutchinson,  would  be  extra- 
ordinary." He  might  have  added,  that  Capt.  Appleton,  who 
was  in  command  of  the  troops  at  Hadley  certainly  within  five 
days  after  the  alleged  attack  if  not  on  the  very  day,  was  an  in- 
habitant of  Ipswich  and  a  parishioner  of  Mr.  Hubbard,  which 
fact  renders  such  an  omission  still  more  "  extraordinary." 

A  careful  examination  of  the  "work  of  President  Stiles  shows 
that  he  made  no  investigation  of  the  angel  story.  After  copying 
what  was  to  be  found  in  Hutchinson,  including  the  traditional 
anecdote,  he  sa}Ts :  "  Hitherto  we  have  proceeded  upon  accurate 
and  authentic  documents,  I  shall  now  collect  and  exhibit  other 
scattered  lights  and  traditionary  information,  preserved  partly 
in  public  fame,  and  partly  in  traditions  in  families  whose  ances- 
tors were  privy  to  the  secrets  of  these  men." 

Considering  the  anecdote  "  accurate  and  authentic,"  he  seeks 
only  to  concentrate  the  scattered  rays  of  light  that  may  be  found 
elsewhere.  Accordingly  he  visits  the  scene  of  the  wonder  and 
corresponded  with  aged  people  in  the  vicinity,  and  says  he  finds 
the  story  is  preserved  in  the  traditions  at  Hadley  and  New 
Haven,  giving  as  the  best  evidence  to  be  found  a  letter  from  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Hopkins,  of  Hadley,  dated  March  26,  1793.  In 
this  letter  the  writer  records  particular  traditions  which  he  found 
in  several  families  as  to  the  fact  of  the  regicides  having  been 
concealed  in  Hadley,  likewise  about  the  places  of  their  burial, 
disagreeing,  to  be  sure,  but  containing  evidence  that  they  were 
founded  in  fact ;  but  only  general  traditions  as  to  the  appearance 
of  Gofie.  This  we  must  bear  in  mind  was  thirty  years  after  the 
Leverett  anecdote  was  published  by  Hutchinson ;  time  enough 
for  the  romance  to  have  become  naturalized  and  wedded  to  the 
tradition  of  their  residence  and  death  in  Hadley  above  mentioned. 
Mr.  Hopkins's  testimony,  so  satisfactory  to  President  Stiles,  would 
have  more  value  had  it  appeared  before  Hutchinson  wrote. 


THE  TRADITION  OF  AN  INDIAN  ATTACK  ON  HADLET.  473 

Stiles  took  the  angel  story  for  granted,  making  no  independent 
investigation.  His  statements  are  vague  and  careless  ;  conse- 
quently his  conclusions  should  have  little  weight  with  historians. 

In  compiling  his  history,  Hutchinson  had  access  to  Mather's 
papers  and  library,  from  which  great  depository  of  historical 
matter  he  drew  largely,  often  quoting  from  Mather's  history  of 
the  war  as  authority.  There  seems  therefore  no  room  for  doubt, 
that  Hutchinson's  story  of  the  attack,  Sept.  1,  was  his  version  of 
Mather's  account  of  the  alarm  quoted  at  the  beginning  of  this 
paper,  and  that  he  had  no  other  source  of  information  relating 
to  that  event.  ISTothing  in  Hutchinson  then  remains  to  be  ex- 
amined but  the  anecdote  of  the  tradition  in  Governor  Leverett's 
family,  before  given. 

After  the  death  of  the  regicides,  their  papers  came  into  the 
possession  of  the  Mather  family.  Among  them  was  Goffe's  diary, 
containing  a  record  of  their  adventures  for  six  or  seven  years. 
Hutchinson,  from  this  diary,  gives  a  full  account  of  the  wander- 
ings, escapes  and  concealments  of  the  judges,  but  not  one  word 
from  that  in  support  of  the  story  of  Goffe's  sudden  appearance 
at  Hadley.  In  a  marginal  note,  at  the  close  of  this  narrative,  he 
thus  introduces  the  tradition  :  "  I  am  loth  to  omit  an  anecdote 
handed  down  through  Governor  Leverett's  family."  All  accounts 
of  Goffe's  appearance  at  Hadley,  Sept.  1,  1675,  can  be  traced 
directly  to  this  anecdote,  and  there  is  no  pretence  of  any  other 
authority. 

The  interpretation  given  to  Mather's  account  by  Hutchinson, 
seems  to  have  been  hitherto  accepted  without  question,  by  all 
succeeding  historians;  and  upon  this  slender  foundation  they 
have  builded  and  enlarged.  Let  me  repeat  Mather's  statement : 

"  One  of  the  churches  in  Boston  was  seeking  the  face  of  the 
Lord  by  fasting  and  prayer  before  him.  Also  that  very  day  the 
church  in  Hadley  was  before  the  Lord  in  the  same  way,  but 
were  driven  from  the  holy  sanctuary  by  a  sudden  and  violent 
alarm  which  routed  them  the  whole  day  after."  We  have  here 
no  particulars  of  a  tight,  no  indications  of  the  point  or  method 
of  an  attack,  no  account  of  arrangement  for  defence,  no  result  of 
battle,  no  list  of  losses  — all  these  details  are  added  by  subsequent 


474  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

writers ;  in  fact  he  does  not  assert  or  hint  that  there  was  an 
attack  ;  yet  this  paragraph  is  literally  all  the  evidence  that  has 
been  given  of  an  attack  on  Hadley  Sept.  1,  1675.  Is  it  sufficient  ? 

Let  me  give  briefly  further  reasons  which  lead  me  to  a  differ- 
ent conclusion,  namely : 

First,  that  there  was  no  attack  on  Hadley  Sept.  1,  1675. 

Second,  that  the  story  of  General  GofiVs  appearance  either  as 
man  or  angel,  at  any  attack  on  that  town,  is  a  pure  romance. 

An  alarm  is  not  necessarily  an  attack,  and  we  may  find  an  ex- 
planation of  Mather's  language  in  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Solomon 
Stoddard,  of  Northampton,  to  Mather,  dated  Sept.  15,  1675,  in 
which  he  gives  a  long  and  minute  account  of  the  events  which 
had  occurred  during  the  three  preceding  weeks  ;  events  the  most 
important  that  had  transpired  in  the  valley  settlements.  After 
describing  the  pursuit  of  the  Hatfield  Indians  when  they  fled 
from  their  fort  to  join  the  Pocomtucks  in  the  interest  of  King 
Philip,  and  the  fight  with  them  in  the  swamp,  south  of  Wequamps 
or  Sugar  Loaf  mountain,  Aug.  25,  he  continues  :  "  After  this 
fight  we  hear  no  more  from  them  till  the  first  of  September, 
when  they  shot  down  a  garrison  soldier  of  Pocomtuck  (now 
Deerfield),  that  was  looking  after  his  horse,  and  ran  violently  up 
into  the  town,  many  people  having  scarcely  time  to  get  into  their 
garrisons.  That  day,  they  burned  most  of  their  houses  and 
barns,  the  garrison  not  being  strong  enough  to  sally  out  upon 
them,  but  killed  two  of  them  from  their  forts." 

When  Deerfield  was  attacked  on  Feb.  29,  1704,  the  alarm  was 
given  in  Hadley  so  quickly,  that  men  from  that  town  reached 
the  scene  of  carnage  in  about  three  or  four  hours  from  the  time 
the  attack  was  made.  Can  any  one  doubt  that  the  news  of  this 
earlier  assault  upon  Deerfield,  described  by  Stoddard,  might  soon 
have  reached  the  inhabitants  of  Hadley? — and  remembering 
that  this  was  the  first  attack  by  the  savages  upon  any  whire  set- 
tlement in  the  valley,  we  can  conceive  the  consternation  and 
alarm  it  must  have  created  among  the  settlers,  and  can  readily 
believe  that  the  people  of  Hadley  were  "  violently  alarmed  and 
routed  the  whole  day  after." 

This  seems  to  be  a  reasonable  solution  of  the  whole  matter,  in 
which  I  am  confirmed  by  recorded  events  of  a  similar  character. 


THE  TRADITION  OF  AN  INDIAN  ATTACK  ON  HADLET.    475 

Colonel  John  Pynchon,  writing  from  Springfield  to  the  govern- 
or at  Boston,  says  :  "It  is  troublesome  times  here ;  we  have 
had  two  alarms  lately,  which  in  mercy  prove  nothing  in  reality. 
But  the  same  with  other  disquiets,  takes  up  my  time  and  prove 
hard  for  me." 

Again,  in  a  letter  from  Boston  to  London,  dated  Sept.  28, 
1675,  the  writer  says  :  "  An  alarm  was  made  in  Boston  about  ten 
in  the  morning,  1200  men  were  in  arms  before  eleven,  .... 
One  that  was  on  guard  at  Mendon,  thirty  miles  off,  got  drunk, 
and  fired  his  gun,  the  noise  of  which  alarmed  the  next  neighbors 
and  soon  spread  to  Boston." 

Governor  Hutchinson  himself  records  another  event  from 
which  he  might  have  taken  a  hint  of  Mather's  meaning,  the  lan- 
guage being  so  similar.  "  The  23d  of  February,  1676,  being  a 
fast  with  the  first  church  in  Boston,  they  were  disturbed  by  an 
alarm  from  the  report  that  the  Indians  were  within  fifteen  miles 
of  Boston."  Similar  examples  might  be  multiplied.  I  quote  one 
more.  Major  Savage,  writing  from  Hadley  to  Governor  Leverett, 
March  16,  1676,  says  :  "  This  morning  about  2  o'clock  we  were 
alarmed  from  Northampton  which  was  occasioned  by  Indians 
being  seen  ontwosides  of  the  town."  Doubtless  Mather  intended 
to  record  only  a  similar  alarm  at  Hadley,  Sept.  1,  1675. 

Hubbard's  narrative  of  the  war,  before  referred  to,  was  pub- 
lished under  the  patronage  of  the  general  court  only  about 
eighteen  months  after  the  supposed  attack.  A  committee  from 
that  body  examined  his  manuscript,  and  pronounced  the  work 
"  faithfully  and  truly  performed."  Yet  this  book  contains  110 
allusion  to  any  disturbance  at  Hadley,  Sept.  1,  while  it  gives  full 
accounts  of  all  the  movements  thereabouts,  in  those  eventful 
weeks  of  Sept.,  1675.  Truly,  as  Hoy t  remarks,  "an  extraordi- 
nary omission." 

Cotton  Mather  wrote  a  history  of  Philip's  war,  detailing  the 
principal  events  which  occurred  in  the  Connecticut  valley,  with- 
out hinting  at  an  attack  upon  Hadley  in  1675.  Can  we  account 
for  the  omissions  of  these  writers,  except  on  the  grounds  I  have 
assumed  ? 

Stronger  evidence  yet  remains  to  be  considered.  The  letter 
before  quoted,  from  the  Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard,  of  Northampton, 


476  THE  INDIAN  MISCELLANY. 

to  Mather,  contained  a  long  and  circumstantial  narrative  of  the 
breaking  out  of  Philip's  war  in  the  valley  ;  of  the  attempt  to  dis- 
arm the  Indians  at  Hatfield  fort,  Aug.  24 ;  the  tight  that  followed 
the  next  morning  near  Wequamps ;  the  attack  on  Deerfield, 
Sept.  1 ;  the  slaughter  of  the  eight  men  at  Northfield,  Sept.  2 ; 
the  defeat  and  death  of  Capt.  Beers,  Sept.  4 ;  the  march  of  Major 
Treat  to  Northfield,  Sept.  6;  the  second  attack  on  Deerfield, 
Sept.  12 ;  the  expedition  to  Pine  Hill,  Sept.  14,  in  pursuit  of  the 
party  which  made  this  last  attack ;  but  not  a  single  word  to  indi- 
cate trouble  at  Hadley,  Sept.  1. 

On  Friday,  Sept.  3,  1675,  Major  Treat  came  into  Hadley  with 
a  hundred  or  more  Connecticut  troops.  The  ill-fated  Capt. 
Lothrop  was  there  with  "  the  Flower  of  Essex ;  "  Capt.  Appleton 
was  also  there,  and  it  is  to  be  supposed  his  company  was  with 
him  ;  and  Capt.  Beers,  with  his  company.  Yet  on  that  very  day, 
says  Hubbard,  Capt.  Beers  "  with  thirty-six  men  was  sent  to 
Squakeag  with  supplies  both  of  men  and  provision  to  secure  the 
small  garrison  there,  but  before  they  came  very  near  to  the  town, 
they  were  set  upon  by  many  hundreds  of  Indians  out  of  the 
bushes  by  the  swamp  side,  of  whom  Capt.  Beers,  with  about 
twenty  of  his  men,  were  by  this  sudden  surprisal  there  slain,  the 
rest  flying  back  to  Hadley." 

Is  it  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  the  only  two  days  after  a  ter- 
rible assault  on  Hadley,  in  which  the  town  was  barely  saved  by 
the  interposition  of  an  angel,  and  while  several  hundred  soldiers 
under  arms  were  there,  a  supply  train  of  ox  carts  should  have 
been  sent  a  distance  of  thirty  miles  through  the  wilderness  with 
a  guard  of  only  thirty-six  men  ?  Capt.  Beers's  expedition,  an 
unpardonable  blunder  at  the  best,  is  only  to  be  accounted  for  on 
the  supposition  that  the  authorities  believed  Philip's  forces  had 
crossed  the  Connecticut  river,  joined  the  Hattield  tribe  and  the 
Pocomtucks  in  the  attack  on  Deerfield,  Sept.  1,  and  that  the  hos- 
tile Indians  were  then  all  on  the  west  side  of  the  river.  They  had 
not  then  heard  of  the  assault  on  JSTorthfield  the  day  before. 
With  a  suggestion  of  the  intrinsic  improbability  of  the  soldiers 
at  Hadley  putting  themseves  under  the  lead  of  a  stranger  while 
their  veteran  commanders  were  present,  I  leave  this  division  of 
my  subject. 


THE  TRADITION  OF  AN  INDIAN  ATTACK  ON  HADLEY.    477 

In  regard  to  my  second  point,  namely,  that  Goffe's  appearance 
at  any  time  is  a  pure  romance,  it  may  be  asked,  admitting  that  we 
have  proved  that  there  was  no  attack  on  Hadley  Sept.  1,  1675, 
what  evidence  is  there  that  Hoyt  and  Dr.  Robbing  were  not  right  in 
their  statements  that  Goffe's  appearance  was  on  the  12th  of  June, 
the  next  year,  when  the  Indians  really  did  £all  upon  that  town  ? 

To  this  the  following  facts  are  a  sufficient  reply.  There  is  no 
correspondence  between  the  well-known  events  of  this  day,  and 
those  of  the  Leverett  tradition.  1st.  The  12th  of  June,  1676,  was 
not  a  fast  day.  2d.  The  inhabitants  were  not  assembled  in  the 
meeting-house.  3d.  The  attack  was  made  upon  a  small  party 
who  had  fallen  into  an  ambuscade.  4th.  It  was  made  early  in 
the  morning.  5th.  The  town  was  not  then  in  a  defenceless  con- 
dition ;  for  besides  the  soldiers  of  Capt.  Turner's  company  who 
had  survived  the  Falls  fight  some  three  weeks  previous,  and  were 
now  under  Capt.  Swain,  nearly  five  hundred  Connecticut  men 
were  in  Hadley  under  Major  Talcott.  two  hundred  of  whom  were 
friendly  Indians  under  Oneko,  son  of  Uncas,  the  famous  sachem 
of  the  Mohegans.  The  Connecticut  forces  had  but  recently 
arrived  •  and  doubtless  Philip's  Indians  expected  to  attack  a  de- 
fenceless town,  but  at  no  time  during  Philip's  war  had  Hadley 
been  in  so  good  a  condition  to  repel  an  attack. 

The  spirit  which,  some  years  later,  caused  the  arrest  and  exe- 
cution in  England  of  Lady  Alicia  Lisle,  for  concealing  Mr.  Hicks 
and  Mr.  Nelthorpe,  two  persons  obnoxious  to  the  crown,  sent 
that  subtle  spy  and  informer,  Edward  Randolph,  to  New  Eng- 
land in  March,  1676,  to  seek  matter  of  accusation  against  the 
inhabitants  preparatory  to  abrogating  their  charters.  Special 
instructions  were  given  him  to  search  for  the  regicides.  Active 
and  crafty,  as  he  was  zealous  and  malicious,  he  lost  no  opportu- 
nity of  serving  his  master.  The  fugitives  must  have  been  fully 
informed  of  his  mission  and  purpose,  and  fully  aware  of  the  con- 
sequences of  their  discovery.  General  Goffe  knew  that  Hadley 
was  in  no  danger  of  capture,  and  that  there  was  no  occasion  for 
leaving  his  hiding  place,  thereby  exposing  himself,  his  companion 
in  exile  and  his  generous  protectors  to  certain  destruction. 

THE  END. 


ERRATA. 

Page  105,  Line  35  and  elsewhere  —  For  Allonez  read  Allouez. 

"     149,  "  35 —  (In  note)  For  mississanga  read  mississauga. 

155,  "  22  —  For  sixty-seven  read  seventy-six. 

"     158,  "  34  — (In  note)  For  October,  1868  read  October,  1869. 

"     252,  "      4  —  Omit  and  a  preceding. 

"     254,  "  20  —  For  these  articles  read  this  article. 

"     285,  "  21  —  Omit  populating. 

"       "  "  22  —  After  purpose  of  insert  populating. 

"     333,  "  33  —  (In  note)  For  Reprinted  read  Printed. 

"     335,  "  26  —  For  Carantonanais  read  Carantouanais. 

"     342,  "  20  —  For  Levallos  read  Zevallos, 

"     350,  "  28  —  For  beat  read  beating. 

"     352,  "  33  —  (In  note)  For  Commission  read  Commissioner. 

"     361,  "      3  —  For  Prof.  1.  1.  Ducatel  read  Prof.  J.  J.  Ducatel. 

"     400,  "  16  —  For  of  us  to  read  to  us  of  .  . 

"     411,  "  38  —  (In  note)  For  part  salary  of  Ms  read  part  of  his  salary. 

"     416,  "  11  —  Insert  and  after  phonological. 

"     424,  "      5  —  For  differention  read  differentiation. 

"     426,  "      6  —  For  Kalapupa  read  Kalapuya. 

"     433,  "  22  —  For  Awnaces  read  Awanees. 

"     434,  "  37  —  For  Poomeocs  read  Pooemocs. 

"     436,  "      8  —  For  Chokuyen  read  Chokuyem. 

"     437,  "  28  —  For  E-ukshiknit  read  E-ukshikni. 

Errors  in  uniformity  of  orthography  not  noted. 


INDEX 


Abnakis,  418  ;  their  locality,  211. 
Aborigines,  ignorant  of  the  use  of  iron, 
161;  of   one   family,   378;  origin   of, 
285, 286, 287  ;  characteristics  of,  287  — 
802. 

Absarokas,  222. 
Acequias,  Mexican,  201 
Acheotennes,  234. 
Adair's  North  Am.  Indians,  280. 
Adobe  houses,  189. 

African  dialects,  4i7,  423  ;  origin,  no  evi- 
dence of,  223. 

Agriculture,  Indian,  197,  198. 
Ahahnelins,  218. 

Ahyouwaeghs  (John  Brant),  149. 
Alabamas  conquered,  120. 
Alaska  nations,  234. 
Alaska  peninsula,  255. 
Alaskan  mummies,  344,  349. 
Aleut  Eskimo,  346  ;  customs,  348. 
Aleutian  island,  source  of  migration,  255, 

256  ;  burials,  344. 
Alfred,    Prince,    among    the    Mohawks, 

153. 

Algonkin,  migrations,  211, 212, 218  ;  popu- 
lation,   285  ;  residence,    225  ;    settle- 
ments, 176  ;  notion  of  the  turtle,  26  ; 
spoken  by  Allouez,  111,  115. 
Algonkins,  religious  influences  upon,  104; 
their    locality,    218  ;  historical     and 
mythological  traditions  of,  9  ;  numer- 
ous,    280 ;  territory     of,     280,    281  ; 
similarity  of  stock,  42. 
Alligewi,  see  Tallegwi,  40. 
Allouez,  Claude  Jean,  105,  110,  112  ;  met 
Dakotas,  213  ;  visits  Kickapoos,  115. 
Alphabets  suggested,  420,  424. 
Amaknak  island  mummies,  347.    • 
America,  accessible  from  Asia,  256  ;  effects 

of  its  discovery,  9. 
American  fur  company,  81  ;  trading  post 

361,  372. 

American  Horse,  chief,  265. 
American  Quarterly  Register,  405. 
American  Whig  Review,  9. 
Ainoukhta  pass,  255. 
Anbury's  Travels,  386. 
Animals  unknown  to  the  aborigines,  199  ; 

west  of  Rocky  mountains,  180. 
Annuities,  Indian,  361. 


Anonymous  conqueror  of  Mexico,  193. 
Antelope,  native  of  the  prairies,  170. 
Apache  language,  46  ;  spinners,  352. 
Apaches,  a  ride  with,  43  ;  styles  of  dress, 

43 ;  assault     Village     Indians,    190 ; 

obtained  the  horse,  234. 
Apalaches,  120. 
Apalachicola  villages,  120. 
Appleton,  Capt. ,  at  Hadley  attack,  472. 
Appleton's  Journal,  65. 
Arapahoes,  216,  261,  262. 
Araucanians,  10. 
Arickarees,  223,  230,  231. 
Arickaree  woman  turned  to  stone,  388. 
Arizona  idioms,  428. 
Arkansas  river,  104,  114. 
Asiatic  origin  of  Indians,  287  :  indications 

of,  224  ;  considered,  254  ;  dialects,  417, 

423  ;  stocks,  affinity  of,  256. 
Asiniboines,  their  locality,  220  ;  Mountain 

alphabet  of,  76. 
Athapasca  lake,  166,  173. 
Athapascans,  fish  eaters,  164. 
Athapasco,  Apache  migration,  233. 
Atka  island  mummies,  347. 
Atlantic,  Monthly  Magazine,  74  ;  nations, 

211  ;  origin,  no  evidence  of,  223. 
Attou  island,  256. 
Australasian  dialects,  417. 
Axacan  settlement,  336  ;  abandoned  343. 
Axe  of  copper,  used  by  Mexicans,  199, 200  ; 
Azt-ec  civilization,  196  ;  confederacy,  power 

of,   246  ;  origin   of,  250  ;  migrations, 

238,   241;  government,   208;  pueblo, 

its  plaza,  206. 
Aztecs,   422,   425  ;  agriculturists,  164 ;  as 

cultivators,  204  ;  held  table  land   of 

Mexico,  191,  192  ;  their  houses,  193  ; 

picture  writing  of,  162  ;  their  location, 

10. 
Aztlan,  migration  from,  240,  241. 

Bad  lands,  fossils,  259. 

Balsam  Tree,  his  speech,  365. 

Banana,  Indian'plant,  198,  202. 

Bancroft's  Hist.  U.  S.,  166,280. 

Barren  region,  172. 

Bartlett,  John  R.,  his  theory,  242  ;  personal 

narrative,  166,  202. 
Bartrarn,  W.,  historian,  41. 


480 


INDEX. 


Bates,  Lieut. ,  battle  with  Indians,  262. 
Bean,  Indian  plant,  198,  199,  202. 
Bear's  Ribs,  chief,  391. 
Beavers,  234. 
Beers,  Capt.,  killed,  476. 
Behring's  island,  255  ;  strait,  256. 
Belle  Isle,  straits  of,  65. 
Benettau,  Julien,  died,  119. 
Bergier,  Jean,  died,  118,  119  ;  M.,  mission- 
ary, 105. 

Beucher,  Philip,  118;  died,  119. 
Bible,    Eliot's  translation,  411. 
Big  Head,  chief,  391. 
Buttner,  Qotlieb,  456. 
Bill  Williams  fork  dialects,  429. 
Bismarck,  steamer  from,  387. 
Black  Eyes,  chief,  391. 
Blackfeet,  217  ;  Sioux,  388,  390. 
Blackfoot  Dakotas,  219  ;  dirge,  84 ;  Indians, 

74,81. 

Blackhill  fossils,  259,  262. 
Blackhills  of    Nebraska,    226 ;    map    of, 

265. 

Blacksnake,  Gov.,  153. 
Black  Snake  medicine  man,  76,  80. 
Blood  band  of  the  Blackfeet,  81. 
Blue  lake,  398. 

Blue  mountain  surveys,  88,  89. 
Blue  river  (Mississippi),  221. 
Bone-hunters,  259,  263,  269. 
Bourmont.  Sieur,  270,  271,  273. 
Boyle,  Sir  Robert,  assisted  Eliot,  414. 
Bradford  on  Indian  origin,  287. 
Bradford,  Wm.,  marine  artist,  65. 
Bradley,  Gen.  L.  P.,  260. 
Brantford,  church  yard  at,  150  ;  residence 

of  Mohawks,  151. 
Brant,  John,  149,  153  ;  Joseph,  portrait  of, 

155  ;  his  posterity,  145  ;  Mollie,  149  ; 

house,  145,  153,  154. 
Brants,  last  of  the,  157. 
Bread  roots,  181. 
Brebeuf,  missionary,  107  ;  to  the  Hurons, 

108. 

Brest,  French  trading  post,  335. 
British  America,  native  population,  188. 
Brontotherium,  skull  of,  259,  268. 
Browne,  John  Mason,  74  ;  J.  Ross,  303. 
Brules,  219. 
Brule,  Stephen,  335. 
Buffalo,  his  speech,  364. 
Buffalo  of  the  prairies,  170,  178. 
Burials,  300  ;  at  Behring's  strait,  345. 
Burns,  John,  35. 
Butler,  Walter,  150. 
Bryant,  William  C.,  145. 
Byrd,  Col.,  51. 

Cabot's  map,  133. 

Cahokias  104,  105,   106;    mission,    118 

119. 
Cahorok  dialect,  438. 


California,  112,114;  Indian  dialects,  416  ; 
Indian  population,  189,  303  ;  Indian 
reservations,  303  ;  government  aid  to, 
305  ;  abuses  of,  306  ;  Indians,  depopu- 
lated, 321  ;  shortest  route  to,  172. 

Calvin,  religious  influences  of,  104. 

Calvinists,  French,  107. 

Camanche  spinners,  352,  357. 

Camp  Robinson,  264. 

Canaanite  origin  of  Indians,  285. 

Canada,  ceded  to  the  French  1632,  107 ; 
Louis  XIII  in,  106 ;  unfavorable  to 
Indian  sustenance,  178. 

Captain  Jacobs,  reward  for,  94. 

Carantouanais,  335. 

Cards  introduced  among  Indians,  368. 

Carignan,  regiment  of,  110. 

Cawios,  231. 

Carolina  Indians,  whence  they  came, 
41. 

Carpenter,  Lieut.  W.  L.,  266. 

Carver  visited  Dakotas,  219. 

Casey,  Captain,  120. 

Cass"  Lewis,  221,270. 

Castaneda,  estimate  of  population,  190. 

Catawbas,  230  ;  their  vocabulary,  230. 

Cathay,  Smith's  voyage  for,  334. 

Cathead  Sioux,  his  vision,  80. 

Catlin  on  the  Indian  songs,  16. 

Cawtantowit,  Indian  God,  42. 

Cayugas,  226. 

Cayuse  tribe,  418,  442. 

Central  America,  navigations  to,  53 ;  ad- 
venture in,  396. 

Chagouainigon,  111,  113. 

Chalcans,  193. 

Chalco,  cultivation  at,  205  ;  lake,  diked, 
202,  203. 

Champlain,  in  command  at  Quebec,  106, 
107  ;  founder  of  Quebec,  335. 

Charlevoix,  22,  26,  107,114,  115;  on  In- 
dian origin,  285. 

Charms  as  medicine,  83. 

Chat,  Nation  du,  110  ;  see  Heries. 

Chatahooche  river,  120. 

Chegoimegon,  213. 

Chelaqui  vocabulary,  120. 

Chelokee  dialect,  121. 

Cheppeyans,  234. 

Cherokees,  230  ;  traditions,  41  ;  have  a 
written  language,  76  ;  susceptible  of 
industry,  377. 

Chesapeake,  first  mission  colony,  333. 

Cheyenne  river,  216. 

Cbeyennes,  262. 

Chibchas,  422. 

Chicago,  Marquette  leaves,  114;  Miamis 
visited  at,  111 ;  prairie  touching  at, 
164 ;  river  route,  105. 

Chickahominy,  Smith's  voyage  up,  334. 

Chichemecas,  194. 

Chihuahua,  46 ;  irruptions  on,  353. 


INDEX. 


481 


Chillicothe,  council  at,  58. 

China,  voyage  to,  334  ;  vicar  of,  106. 

Chinantecas,  195. 

Chinook  tribe,  442  ;  seat  of,  182;  jargon, 

426,  443. 
Chippeway,  tradition  of  the  mother  of  the 

human  race,  26  ;  migration,  29  ;  metai 

song,  16. 
Chippeways,  273  ;  a  fortn  ght  among,  361 ; 

efforts    to   Christianize,    377 ;    invite 

Jesuits,  104  ,  of  Canada,  151. 
Chisel  of  stone  in  use,  199. 
Chocot-harjo,  120. 
Choctas,  223. 
Chocuyem  dialect,  432. 
Cholula,  cultivation  at,  205. 
Cholulan  confederacy,  192,  195. 
Choutal  language,  197. 
Chronicle,  song  of,  30,  35. 
Chukchee  peninsula,  344. 
Cincinnati  Miscellany,  323. 
Circe,  Augustine  Meulan  de,  106. 
Civilization  problem  to  be  solved,  105. 
Clark,  Qeo.  Rogers,  hero  of  Kaskaskia,51. 
Clarke,  the  traveler,  12. 
Clarke's  river  salmon,  185. 
Clavigero,  estimate  of  Mexican  population, 

193,  194. 

Cletart,  chief,  275. 
Clifford,  Hank,  guide,  260. 
Climate,  dryness  on  the  prairies,  168  ;  of 

Columbia  river,  180. 
Clothing,  371. 
Coosadas,  120. 

Coatl,  a  Mexican  copper  implement,  199. 
Cocoa,  Indian  plant,  198,  202. 
Cohuicas,  195. 

Colorado,  Indian  houses,  189;  parks  of,  170. 
Columbia  river,  climate  genial,  180,  187  ; 

migrations   from,    158 ;  salmon,   184, 

185 ;    Indians,   186 ;    first   inhabited, 

187  ;  valley,  its  advantages,  252,  253  ; 

migration  from  possible,  224,  226. 
Comanches,  231, 232,  233  ;  dialects  of,  428. 
Conjurations,  effect  of,  how  accounted  for, 

80. 
Connecticut,  aborigines  of,  280 ;  number 

of,  285  ;  valley  Indians,  282,  283. 
Conquering  Bear,  265. 
Cooke,  Phiueas,  on  attack  of  Hadley,  468. 
Co  pan  monuments,  162. 
Copper  implements,  199. 
Coppermine  river,  81. 
Copway,  George,  17. 
Corn,  Indian,  the  only  cereal,   198,  202, 

205  ;  discovery  of,  251. 
Cornplanter,  153. 
Coronado,  expedition  of,  190,  232. 
Cortez,  Don  Jose,  234. 
Cotton,  Indian  plant,  198,  202. 
Council  house  described,  325. 
Courcelles,  governor,  110. 
32 


Coyoteros,  234. 

Crane  Indian  legend,  174,  175. 

Crawford,  Col.    Wm.,  57;  executed,  57; 

Lieut.,  261  ;  Thomas,  sculptor,  452. 
Creation,  the  song  of,  18. 
Creator,  idea  of  indicated,  21. 
( 'ree,    characters,    420 ;  war     party,    81  ; 

nation,  212,  213,  217. 
Creeks,  41,  223,230. 
Cross,  the  symbol  of,  among  the  Indians, 

104. 
Crows,    or    Upsaraukas,    83,    222;  their 

locality,  231  ;  medicine  man,  78. 
Crowell,  Samuel,  323. 
Cuesta's  Grammar,  430. 
Culinary  art,  372. 
Cumberland  island,  burial  at,  451. 
Custer,  Gen.,  261. 
Cut-off  band,  261. 
Cuvier  on  extinct  quadrupeds,  258. 

Dablon,   missionary  to   Sault   St.   Marie, 

111  ;  visits  Kickapoos,  115. 
Dakotah   confederacy,  83 ;  location,   178  ; 

migrations,  21b,  219  ;  signification  of 

name,   394;  territory,   127,  213,  216, 

220,   223  ;  stock,   of    western   origin, 

224,  226,  227. 

Dall,  W.  H.,  his  paper,  344. 
Dance,  at  dog  sacrifice,  327  ;  customs,  306. 
Daniel,  early  missionary  to  the  Hurons, 

108. 

Darion,  missionary,  119. 
Dear,  J.  W.,264. 
Death  chant,  451. 
Debbon,  C.,  396. 
De  la  Foret,  Sieur,  273. 
Deed  to  Wm.  Penn,  87. 
Deerfield  burned,  466,  476. 
Delawares,  on  White  river,  14  ;  chastised 

by  Six   Nations,  91  ;  they  strike  the 

whites,  94  ;  migration  of,  212  ;  their 

locality,  212. 
Deluge,  the  song  of,  23. 
Democratic  Review,  102. 
Dequerre,  Jean,  105  ;  slain  in  1661,  105. 
Derby,  Indians  at,  458. 
De  Smet,  describes  fisheries,  183. 
DeSoto,  22 1,224;  his  march,  121  ;  invader, 

460  ;  visited  Florida,  41. 
De  Tonty,  Sieur,  273. 
Detroit,  Indian  affairs  around,  270. 
Dialects  on  Pacific  coast,  416,  425. 
Diaz,  Bernal,  200,  206. 
Dickinson,  Obed,  325. 
Diggers  of  California,  304,  320. 
Dillon,  John,  squaw-man,  392. 
Dog-Ribs,  a  tribe,  234. 
Dog,  meat  relished,  374;  sacrifice,  389, 390  ; 

of  the  Senecas,  323,  329. 
Donna  Marina,  interpreter,  195. 
Dorr,  Herbert  C.,aride  with  theApaches,43. 


482 


INDEX. 


Dover,  Indian  settlement  at,  455. 

Dream  of  Hard  Hickory,  328. 

Dreaming,  375. 

Drocoux,  Jean  Charles,  105. 

Du  Cbesnau,  memoir  of,  213. 

Ducatel,  J.  J.,  361. 

Dunton,  John,  409. 

Du  Sable  nation,  270. 

Dyes,  Indian,  352. 

Ear-ornament,  389. 

Earthworks,  an  insoluble  problem,  176. 

Ecclesiastics  who  followed  the  conquerors, 
their  superstition  and  intolerance,  1 1 . 

Eliot,  Rev.  John,  405  ;  first  minister  of 
Roxbury,  406  ;  translates  Bible,  410  ; 
his  converts,  4)2  ;  died,  414. 

Elk  of  the  prairies,  170, 178. 

Enatzas,  223. 

England  and  France,  war  between,  106. 

English  population  1675,  408. 

Eries,  or  Lynx,  28,  226,  227  ;  natives  on 
Lake  Erie,  110. 

Eskimos,  179,  244  ;  burials,  346,  348,  350  ; 
see  Esquimaux. 

Espiritu  Santo,  336. 

Esquimaux,  discovery  of,  9  ;  of  Labrador, 
.65  ;  pilot,  66  ;  natives  flesh  eaters,  73  ; 
being  depopulated,  73  ;  wars  with  In- 
dians ceased,  09. 

Etchimons,  their  locality,  211. 

Eunice,  last  of  the  Pequods,  457,  458. 

Eurok  tribe,  437. 

European  origin,  no  evidence  of,  223  ;  set- 
tlement, first  in  Virginia,  333. 

Evil  spirits,  283. 

Farmer,  John,  on  Hadley  attack,  468. 
Fast,   Christian,   his   captivity, 51  ;    died, 

64. 

Fasts,  long  continued,  374. 
Favre.  Florentin,  119. 
Feasts,  numerous,  374. 
Females,  overtaxed  with  labor,  200,  372. 
Fire  fiend,  332. 
Fish,   basis   of  Indian   subsistence,   164 ; 

drying    scaffolds,    183 ;    baskets    for 

catching,  184. 

Fisheries  west  of  Rocky  mountains,  181. 
Flatheads,  83. 
Flint  river,  120. 
Flora,  arctic,  70. 

Florida,  French  colony  destroyed,  334. 
Floridian  tribes,  10. 
Foos-harjo.  educated  Indian,  120. 
Fort  Levi,  110. 
Forest  area,  167,  171. 
FortBenton,81 ;  Laramie,  260  ;  Rice,  387. 
Fossil,  perilous    hunt,  258,   269;  region, 

265 ;  remains,  258. 

Four  Mountain  island  mummies,  347. 
Fox  river  ascended,  105,  113. 


Foxes,  arctic,  70  ;  country  of,  115. 
Francis,  Lieut.,  commands  rangers,  449. 
Frank    Leslie's    Illustrated     Newspaper, 

396. 

Frazier's  river  Indians,  188. 
Frederica,  commanding  officer  at,  449. 
French    vessels  captured,    106  ;  Calvinist, 

107  ;  Indian  subjection  to.  112. 
Fresno  agency,  318,  319  ;  expenses  of,  321. 
Friday,  chief  of  Arapahoes,  261,  265. 
Fulton,  115. 
Funerals,  300. 

Oak  was,  227. 

Galaxy,  the,  379 

Gallatiu,  Mr.,  linguist,  120. 

Gamblers,  Indian,  367. 

Gamelin,  missionary,  119. 

Ganowanian  family,  210,   211.   217,   223, 

229,  231,  235,  243,  257. 
Garreau,  sufferings  of,  110. 
Gatschet,  Albert  S.,  his  paper,  416. 
Georgia,  early  Indian  wars  of,  448. 
Gibbs,  George,  126,  420,  426. 
Gibson,  John,  on  the  Tallegwi,  39. 
Gideon,  sachem,  455,  456. 
Gila   river,  irrigation   on,   201  ;  dialects, 

429. 

Girty,  Simon,  57,  58. 
God  of  evil,  Sioux,  388. 
Godden,  William,  397. 
Goffe,  William,  regicide,  461  ;  his  defence 

of  Hadley  controverted,  462-478  ;  his 

diary  and  papers,  473. 
Gomara  on  Indian  origin,  285  ;  estimate  of 

Mexican  population,  193. 
Gomez,  Gabriel,  massacred,  342. 
Gonzales.  Vincent,  missionary,  342. 
Good  Hunter,  chief,  324  ;  his  speech,  331. 
Good  spirit,  feast  to  appease,  328. 
Gookin  on  Indian  origin,  286  ;  account  of 

praying  Indians,  409 ;  Hist.  Coll.  of 

Indians,  280. 
Goreloi  island,  255. 
Government  abuses  in  California,  321. 
Grass,  John,  chief,  391. 
Grasses,  growth  how  affected,  168. 
Great  lake  nations,  212. 
Green  Bay,   Jesuit  relics  found  at,   117  ; 

mission  to,  102. 
Gros-ventres,  218. 
Grotius  on  Indian  origin,  285. 
Groton,  residence  of  Sassacus,  452. 
Guatemala,  languages  of,  197. 
Guatusos,  396;  their  stature,  etc.,  400. 
Gulf  nations,  migrations  of,  229. 
Gymnastics,  369. 

Hadley,  attack  on,  461. 
Hamilton  inlet,  65,  70. 
Hamor,  Raphe,  343. 
Hand,  chief,  265. 


INDEX. 


483 


Hanger,  William,  397. 

Hardcastle,  Lieut.,  his  map,  206. 

Hard  Hickory,  chief,  324  ;  his  dream,  328. 

Hares,  a  tribe,  234. 

Harney's  peak,  266. 

Harper's  Magazine,  303. 

Hart,  Captain,  397. 

Hartford  Indians,  283. 

Hay,  Judge,  his  testimony,  381,384  ;  Lieut., 
260. 

Hazard's  Register  of  Pennsylvania,  86. 

Heckewelder,  57  ;  on  Indian  picture  writ- 
ing, 15,  38. 

Hennepin,  prej udices  of,  116:  his  return, 
118. 

Herera,  199,  206. 

Heries  destroyed  by  Iroquois,  110,  116. 

Heve  dialect,  425. 

Hiacoomes,  Indian  convert,  412. 

Hill,  Capt.  Aaron,  148;  George  W.,  ac- 
count of  captivity  of  Christian  Fast, 
51. 

Historical  Magazine,  125,  430,  434,  436. 

Hitchitee  vocabulary,  121. 

Hobbamock,  297,  298. 

Hodenosaunian  nations,  226,  227,  229. 

Holland,  Dr.,  on  attack  of  Hadley,  465. 

Holmes,  Abiel,  on  attack  of  Hadley,  464. 

Hoopa  tribe,  440. 

Hoopahs,  234. 

Hoosatahnook  (Hoosatonic),  455. 

Hopedale,  narwhal  at,  70 ;  sail  to,  65.  66. 

Hopkins,  Rev.  Samuel,  on  attack  of  Had- 
ley, 472. 

Horse,  among  the  Indians,  74 ;  his  use  in 
hunting,  163,  178. 

Horses,  expensive  trappings  of  Apache,  43. 

Horton,  Captain,  pursues  Yamasees,  449. 

Hoyt,  Epaphras,  on  attack  of  Hadley,  463. 

Huastecas,  194. 

Huaxtepec  garden,  205. 

Hubbard's  narrative,  475. 

Hudson  bay  region,  170 ;  unfavorable  to 
Indian  sustenance,  178. 

Huecos,  231. 

Huehuetoca  outlet,  203. 

Humboldt  bay  massacres,  319. 

Hunting-grounds,  the  Indian  paradise  de- 
scribed, 79. 

Huntington,  Rev.  Dr.,  on  attack  of  Hadley, 
465. 

Huron  fort,  270. 

Huron-Iroquois,  284. 

Hurons,  a  missionary  field,  107,  108  ;  con- 
test with,  28  ;  indifferent  to  religion 
of  Jesuits,  108  ;  introduced  agriculture, 
198  ;  of  Georgian  bay,175  ;  Talmatan,  ? 
41  ;  their  locality,  226,  227. 

Hutchinson,  Gov. ,  on  attack  of  Hadley, 
462;  Hist.  Mass.,  280. 

Ice  floe,  extent  of,  65. 


Illinois  Indians,  111,  114;  mission  to  the, 
105,  il'6;  river,  113;  first  visited  by 
the  Jesuits,  117,  118  ;  route,  105. 

Incas,  conquerors  of,  10. 

India  rubber  trees,  400,  401. 

Indian,  converts  of  John  Eliot,  405  ;  coun- 
cil at  Chillicothe,  58  ;  expedition 
against  the  border  settlements  of  Vir- 
ginia and  Pennsylvania,  58  ;  medicine, 
74,  80  ;  memoranda,  76 ;  migrations, 
158 ;  nations,  homogeneity  of,  159  ; 
physique,  287 ;  justice,  288 ;  gratitude, 
289  ;  hospitality,  290  ;  population,  es- 
limate  of  Bancroft,  177  ;  by  Simpson, 
179  ;  walk  in  1682  ;  do,  in  1692,  88  ; 
in  1735,  89  ;  in  1756,  94. 

Indiana,  mission  in,  113. 

Indians,  alienated  from  the  French,  107  ; 
finest  specimens  where  found,  272  ; 
knowledge  of  their  extent  acquired, 
209  ;  origin  of,  12. 

Industrial  arts,  362. 

Infant  baptism,  importance  of,  103. 

Inland  Magazine,  127. 

Intoxication  of  both  sexes,  374. 

Invuctoke  bay,  65. 

lowas,  definition  of,  241  ;  their  locality, 
220,  224. 

Iron  Horn,  chief,  391. 

Iroquois,  418  ;  change  of  location,  186  ; 
descent  of  sachemships,  147  ;  trans- 
planted to  Canada,  148  ;  Christianized, 
152  ;  differ  from  Talamatan,  41  ; 
early  locality  of,  226,  237  ;  expedition 
against,  110 ;  families,  10 ;  forced 
Otawas  westward,  213  ;  in  New  York, 
211,212;  killed  Father  Jogues,  109; 
attacked  Hurons,  110 ;  destroy  the 
nation  du  Chat,  110  ;  league  with 
Sioux,  115  ;  their  fisheries,  175  ;  tradi- 
tion of  migration,  238. 

Irrigation,  Indian,  200,  201,  202. 

Isauntie  dialect,  219. 

Israelitish  origin  of  Indians,  285,  286 

Itazipcos,  219. 

Istapalapan  causeway,  205. 

James  on  the  Indian  songs,  16. 

Japan,  vicar  in,  106. 

Jemison,  Mary,  153. 

Jesuit  accounts  unsatisfactory,  11 ;  early, 
missionaries,  in  Wisconsin,  102;  mis- 
sionaries of  the  northwest,  102. 

Jicarillos,  234. 

Jogues.  Isaac,  104 ;  slain,  109. 

Johns,  Catharine  Brant,  150,  156. 

Johnson,  Mvskoke  speaker,  120 ;  Peter, 
chief,  154. 

Johnstown,  Indian  trail  to,  58. 

Joliet,his  return  to  Quebec,  114  ;  his  route, 
105,  113. 

Jones,  Calvin,  trapper,  127. 


484 


INDEX. 


Judcl,  Sylvester,  on  attack  of  Hartley.  466. 

Kadiak  archipelago,  344,  350,  351. 

Kagamil  island,  347. 

Kahgegagahbowh,  17. 

Kaime  ot  the  Blackfeet,  81. 

Kalapuy,  a  tribe,  442. 

Kalispelui  Indians,  missionary  among, 
77. 

Kamash  root,  180,  181. 

Kamtchatka  cape,  255,  256. 

Kaniag  Eskimo,  346. 

Kankiki,  105. 

Kansas,  its  landscape,  108. 

Kaskaskia,  104  ;  mission,  118,  119. 

Kathayakutchak,  chief,  347. 

Kaws  their  locality,  221. 

Kauvuya  dialects,  428. 

Keechies,  231. 

Kenistenaux,  212,  213. 

Kent,  residence  of  the  last  of  Schayhti- 
cooks,  455. 

Kentucky,  invasion  of,  51. 

Korr,  Wm.  Johnson,  149  ;  Elizabeth,  150; 
W.  J.  Simcoo,  portrait  of,  151  ;  notice 
of,  153;  died,  156;  plantation,  cap- 
ture at,  449 

Kettle  falls  fisheries,  183. 

Kewassa,  Indian,  55. 

Kickapoos,  112,  115,216. 

Kill  Eagle,  chief,  391. 

King's  river  farm,  318. 

Kiowa  idioms  of  Red  river,  428. 

Kitchelus  lake,  fish  wears,  183. 

Kiehtan,  297,  300. 

Klamath,  agency  expenses,  321  ;  Indians, 
439  ;  language,  416 ;  reserve,  418, 
422,  427. 

Konkepot,  John,  Stockbridge  Indian,  459. 

Kootenai  Indian,  singular  power  of,  77, 
80 ;  fisheries,  184  ;  language,  446. 

Knight,  captive,  57. 

Kruth,  superintendent,  death  of,  66. 

Kutchin  Indians,  188,  234. 

La  Belle  Riviere,  104. 

Labrador  climate,   170 ;  hunting  in,  71  ; 

religious  services,  71  ;  Kyak  races,  72  ; 

fishing  at,  73. 

Lachine,  visited  by  La  Salle,  334. 
Lac  Tracy,  104. 
Lacustrine  region,  178. 
Lake  Erie,  first  Jesuit  mission  west   of, 

109. 

Lake  Michigan,  Jesuit  routes  from,  105. 
Lake  Omaxeen,  81. 
Lakes,  the  first  white  men  on,  102. 
Lake,  Superior  Chippewas,  361 ;  tropical, 

269. 

Lambronde,  Jesuit  missionary,  118. 
La  Mothe,  Sieur,  270,  278. 
Lampreys,  abundant  food,  457. 


Language,  number  of  dialects,  209  ;  diver- 
sity of,  238  ;  of  the  western  ^lope,  421. 

Lapointe,  trading  post,  361. 

La  Salle,  voyage  for  China,  334. 

Las  Casas,  estimate  of  Aztecs,  196. 

Last  of  his  race,  statue  of,  452. 

Latrobe,  death  of,  66. 

Lawson,  John,  historian,  41. 

Leasure,  Daniel,  his  paper,  387. 

LeBlauc,  Jean,  270,  273,  274,  276,  27?  ; 
Maxime,  missionary,  118. 

LeJeune,  his  boast,  104. 

Leuape  migration,  38,  39  ;  bark  record  of, 
9,  14,  39. 

Lewis  and  Clarke,  185  ;  their  estimate  of 
population,  188 ;  Isaac,  tekarihogea, 
151  ;  Morgan,  'his  testimony,  384. 

Linares,  Peter  de,  massacred,  342. 

Linguistics,  418  ;  confounded  with  phi- 
lology, 417. 

Linklater,  Mr.,  67. 

Lipans,  234. 

Little  Wound,  261,  265. 

Llama  of  the  Andes,  170. 

Lobsters  unknown  at  Labrador,  70. 

Lodges,  how  constructed,  362. 

London  Magazine,  448. 

Long  Walk,  narrative  of.  86,  97,  98. 

Los  Angeles,  303. 

Loskiel  onlndian  picture  writing,  15, 34,38. 

Lossing,  Benson  J. ,  his  paper,  452. 

Louchoux  Indians,  188. 

Louisville,  attack  on,  51. 

Loyola,  influences  of,  104. 

Lynn,  John,  spy,  59. 

Lyon,  Thomas,  Indian  leader,  53,  63. 

Mack,  Martin,  missionary,  455. 

Mackenzie  river,  81. 

Mackina,  mission  to,  102. 

Mackinaw,  isle  of,  114,  115. 

Magazine  of  Am.  History,  416. 

Magdalen  islands,  walrus  exterminated  in, 
70. 

Maguey,  Indian  plant,  198,  202. 

Mahwee,  Eunice,  last  of  the  Pequods,  456  ; 
Joseph,  458  ;  Pequod  captive,  454, 455. 

Maine  salmon  fisheries,  186. 

Mambre,  Zenobe,  missionary,  118. 

Manabozho,  the  demi-god,  23. 

Manatoulin  islands,  213. 

Mandans,  83  ;  of  Welsh  descent,  85  ;  their 
location,  222. 

Manitou,  104,  297 ;  the  bad  spirit,  22. 

Manitouwock,  298. 

Manoir  Menard,  270. 

Mansolia,  emissary  of  Iroquois,  116. 

Manufactures,  370. 

Maqueapos,  medicine  man,  his  extraordi- 
nary predictions,  80,  82,  83. 

Marest,  Gabriel,  died,  119  ;  Jesuit,  279. 

Maret,  Jesuit  missionary,  110. 


INDEX. 


485 


Marines  captured,  449. 

Marivalles  mountains,  402. 

Marquette,  225  ;  charged  to  explore  Mis- 
sissippi, 1 12, 118  ;  his  route,  105  ;  died 
114  ;  mission  to  Sault  St.  Marie,  111, 
112,  114;  riviere  du,  114,  115;  re- 
mains taken  to  Mackinaw,  115;  his 
successors,  118. 

Marriages  among  Apaches  and  Zunis, 
87. 

Marsh,  O.  C.,  fossil  student,  258,  262. 

Marshall,  Edward,  concerned  in  the  long 
walk,  98  ;  Moses,  his  testimony  of  the 
long  walk,  97,  98,  99,  100,  101. 

Martyr,  Peter,  on  Indian  origin,  285. 

Mascontenec,  115,  116. 

Mascontins,  105,  112,  115. 

Mason,  Capt.  John,  453. 

Massachusetts  nations,  locality  of,  211. 

Massasoit,  anecdote  of,  289. 

Masse  Evremond,  107. 

Matagorda  bay,  166. 

Mather,  Cotton,  his  notion  of  the  origin  of 
the  aborigines,  11  ;  history  of  Philips 
war,  475 ;  his  confidence,  414 ;  In- 
crease, his  account  of  the  delivery  of 
Hadley,  462  ;  Magnalia,  280  ;  theory 
of  Indian  origin,  2S6. 

Matlatzincas,  194. 

Mattabesets,  their  locality,  283. 

Mattole  station,  319. 

Mayas,  422  ;  language,  197. 

Mayhews  of  Martha's  Vineyard,  406. 

Mazatecas,  195. 

McCrea,  Jane,  tragedy  of,  379. 

Mechassippi,  unknown  course  of,  112, 
113. 

Medicine  men  below  contempt,  75  ;  extra- 
ordinary acts  of,  76,  77,  78,  79,  80. 

Meewoc  dialects,  433. 

Migrations,  song  of,  28. 

Meidoo  nation,  433. 

Meldrum,  his  snow  medicine,  78. 

Melendez,  Don  Pedro,  334,  343. 

Mendivil,  Jose,  48. 

Mendocino  agency  expenses,  321  ;  reserva- 
tion, 319. 

Mengwi,  the,  39,  40,  41. 

Menominees,  216. 

Mesnard,  sufferings  of,  110. 

Mexican  causeways,  203  ;  migrations,  239, 
240  ;  population,  estimates  of,  193  ; 
languages,  194;  records  burnt,  11; 
saddles,  expensively  ornamented,  43. 

Mexico  founded,  240,  241  ;  gulf  of,  112, 
114;  lake  of,  204,  206  ;  floating  gar- 
dens, 205  ;  migrations  from  the  north, 
253  ;  petty  nations  of,  191,  195  ;  pue- 
blo villages,  193. 

Meztitlans,  194. 

Miamis,  104,  106,  111  ;  kill  Ottawas,  270, 
271. 


Miantonimoh,  chief  of  Narragansetts,  453. 

Michasippa  river,  104,  105. 

Michel,  Jaques,  107. 

Michigm  lake,  voyageurs  of,  115  ;  pur- 
chase of,  361 ;  see  Lake  Michigan. 

Michilimakinak  (the  great  turtle),  26. 

Michuacan  confederacy,  192,  194. 

Micmacs,  their  locality,  211. 

Migrations,  traditions  of  from  the  west, 
"  41 ;  routes  of,  169.  170,  171,  173,  324  ; 
230,  231,  232,  233,  235. 239,  242,  245, 
253  ;  considered,  210,  212. 

Mikasuke  vocabulary,  129, 125. 

Mines  of  California,  305. 

Minikanyes,  219. 

Minneconjous,  261,  265. 

Minnesota,  Dakotan  occupation  of,  229  : 
Dakotas  located  in,  219. 

Minnitarees,  198,  222. 

Minsi  tribe,  40 ;  their  locality,  212. 

Miscaleros,  234. 

Miskaouki,  speech  of,  270,  277. 

Mission  of  the  Rappahannock,  339  ;  de- 
stroyed, 342. 

Missions  established,  16,68,  111;  system 
a  failure,  322. 

Missisagas,  their  locality,  212,  273. 

Mississippi,  104, 105,  114,  see  Michasippa ; 
missions,  106  ;  passage  <.f,  26,  27  ; 
passed  by  migrations,  41  ;  the  blue 
river,  221. 

Missouri  nations,  220  ;  river,  113  ;  unfavor- 
able to  Indian  sustenance,  178 ;  the 
muddy  river,  221. 

Missouri,  definition  of,  241 ;  their  locality, 
220,  222  see  Upper  Missouri  ;  nations, 
222. 

Mix,  Capt.,  260. 

Mixtecas,  195. 

Mobile,  Jesuits  at,  119. 

Modocs,  439,  440. 

Moqui  idioms  of  Arizona,  428. 

Mohave  dialect,  429. 

Mohawks,  226  ;  cast  their  fortunes  with 
the  British,  145 ;  reside  on  the  Grand 
river,  151  ;  territory,  284 ;  prowess, 
284 ;  massacred  last  of  the  Pequods, 
454. 

Mohegans,  or  Wolves,  28 ;  their  locality, 
211,  212. 

Molunthe,  Indian  name  of  Fast,  55. 

Mongolian  resemblance  of  Seneca,  224. 

Monseys,  see  Miusi,  40. 

Montaks,  their  locality,  211. 

Montezuma,  conquerors  of,  10. 

Montigney,  missionary,  119. 

Moore,  Martin,  his  paper,  405. 

Moravian,  missionaries,  455,  456;  ruins,  on 
the  Tuscarawas,  59  ;  supply  ship,  66 ; 
agent,  66. 

Morgan,  Lewis  H.,  on  Indian  migrations, 
158. 


486 


INDEX. 


Moss,  edible,  181. 
Mound-builders,  176,  216,  243. 
Mount    Venture   fort,    448. 
Mountain  areas,  170. 
Mountaineers,  234. 
Muddy  river  (Missouri),  221. 
Mummies,  Alaskan,  344,  349. 
Muscogulges,  41. 
Musical  traits,  339. 
Mutsun  dialect,  422,  425,  430,  431. 
Mvskokes,  120,  121. 

Mystic    river,    Indian    fort   on,    452;  de- 
stroyed, 454. 
Mythological  history,  importance  of,   12. 

Nanticokes,  their  locality,  212. 
Narragansetts    join     English,    453 ;  last 

remnant  of,  455;  their  locality,  211. 
Narwhal  at  Labrador,  70. 
Natches,    120,    236 ;  assimilated    to    the 

Toltecans,  41. 

Natches  104  ,  Favre  at,  119. 
Natick,  praying  Indian  settlement,  409. 
Nation  du  Chat  destroyed,   110;  de  Feu 

(Mascontins),  115. 
Naumkeage,  plantation  of,  405. 
Navijoes,   234  ;  assault    Village   Indians, 

190  ;  spinners,  352,  359. 
Neblaska,  definition  of,  167. 
Nebraska,  its  landscape,  168. 
Nehantic.s  their  locality,  283. 
Netelas,  231. 

Neutral  nation,  their  locality,  227. 
Nevoine  dialect,  429. 
New   England,    Indians,    their   fisheries, 

175 ;  Hist,   and  Gen.    Register,    461. 
New  Englander,  280. 
New  France  company,  vessels  captured, 

106. 
New  Mexican  Indians,  189  ;  dialects,  233  ; 

Indian  spinners,  352. 
New  York  Historical  Society,  paper  read 

before,  9. 

Nez-perces,  444  ;  mission  to,  111. 
Niantics,  join  English,  453. 
Nicaragua,  language  of,  197,  249. 
Nicholas,  missionary  to  Nez  Perces,  111. 
Nicollet,  13. 

Niobarra  expedition,  260. 
Nipmuck  territory,  282. 
Niza,  Marcos  de,  246. 

Nome  Cult   agency,   expenses,    321 ;  out- 
rages, 318. 

Nome  Lackee  agency,  expenses  of,  321. 
Nonantum,  Eliot  at,  407,  408. 
Nootka  dialect,  446. 
North  American  Indians,  origin  of,  253 ; 

Indian,   Crawford's    statue    of,    452 ; 

Review,  158,  161. 

Northampton  county  destroyed,  94. 
Northern  Blackfeet,  81. 
Northfield,  Treat's  march  to,  476. 


North  western  territory,  early  Jesuit  mis- 
sions to,  102,  103. 

Nattowas,  226,  228 ;  extinct,  227 ;  escape 
of,  449,  450. 

Nouvelle  France,  viceroy  of,  110. 

Nowikakliat  Indians,  345. 

Nueces  river,  166. 

Odjibway  songs,  418. 

Ogallahs,  219. 

Ogallallahs,  201. 

Oglethorpe,  General,  448. 

Ohenonpas,  219. 

Ohio,  falls   of,   51  :  Indian   sacrifice,  323  ; 

river,  104  ;  poor  for  subsistence,  175  ; 

woodlands,  166. 
Ojibwas,  212,  213,  217 ;  fish  eaters,  164 ; 

of  Lake  Superior,  174  ;  paths  blazed, 

15. 

Okames,  their  locality.  221. 
Old  Man  Afraid  of  his  Horses,  chief,  265. 
Omahas,  220. 
Oneidas,  226. 
Oneko,  son  of  Uncas,  477. 
Onion,  Indian  plant,  198. 
Onondaga,  definition  of,  241. 
Onondagas,  226  ;  enemies  of  the  Hurons, 

110. 

Ontonagon,  213. 
Ord,  Gen.  O.  C.,  259. 
Osages,  their  locality,  221 ,  224,  225. 
Otawas,  212  ;   forced   westward,   213 ;   of 

Mackinaw,  174,  175  ;  see  Ottawas. 
Otoes,  their  locality,  220. 
Otomies,  194. 

Ottawas,  113  ;  their  location,  110  ;  deputa- 
tion to  Quebec,  110  ;  mission  to,  110  ; 

coasts  Lake  Superior,  111. 
Oviedo,   333 ;   on    Nicaragua   languages, 

197. 
Ouyatanons,  276. 

Pacific   Indian   languages,   416,  424,  426, 

446  ;  migrations  to.  253. 
Pacification  of  the  Indians,  394. 
Packard,  A.  S.  Jr.,  65. 
Palfrey,  on  attack  of  Hadley,  406. 
Palmer,  Lieut.,  killed,  380. 
Pamakona,  272. 
Pampticos,  their  locality,  212. 
Panama  Indians,  189. 
Parker,  O.  J.,  his  paper,  396. 
Parker  lake,  399. 
Parks  of  the  Colorado,  170. 
Patagonia,  Esquimaux  of,  10. 
Patween  race,  435. 
Pawnees,  230,  231. 
Pawneu  Killer,  chief,  265. 
Payutes,  427,  428. 
Peabody,  W.  0.  B.,  102. 
Peace  between  French  and  Six  Nations, 

111. 


INDEX. 


487 


Peace  river  plateau,  167. 

Peel  rivtr  Indians,  188. 

Pelang,  Jose,  396. 

Penn,  Win.,  his  arrival,  86. 

Pennsbury  manor,  88. 

Pennsylvania   Indians,   first  murder  by, 

101  ;  purchase  of,  86,  87. 
Pepper,  Indian  plant,  198,  202,  205. 
Pequod  fort  destroyed,  1637,  453 ;  nation 

destroyed,  454;   their  location,  452; 

their  number,  452  ;  last  of  the,  452, 

456. 

Pekitanoni,  114. 
Perrot,  111.  112. 
Peruvian  Indians,  41,  162. 
Pesant,  chief,  270,  271,  273,  278. 
Peters,  Henry,  his  paper,  352. 
Peoria.  105. 
Philip,  his  contempt  for  the  gospel,  413  ; 

his  war,  effe  t  upon  the  Indians,  408  : 

history  by  Cotton  Mather,  475. 
Picture  writing  of  aborigines,  15. 
Pilgrims  prompted  by  religious  motives, 

104. 

Pima  dialects,  429. 
Pinart,  Alphonse,  344  ;  M.,  351. 
Pinet,  Hugues,  105  ;  successor  of,  118. 
Pinols,  234. 
Pish-ga^h-ti-gock,   original   of  Schaghti- 

cock,  455. 

Pit  river  Indians,  439. 
Pit  river  massacre.  820. 
Pittsburgh  Evening  Chronicle,  387. 
Platte   river,   poorly  supplied  with   fish, 

178  ;  occupied  by  Dakotahs,  226,  231. 
Plow  unknown  to  the  aborigines,  199. 
Plymouth  colony,  406. 
Pocahontas,  Velasco  a  kinsman  of,  343. 
Pocomtuck  Valley  Association,  461. 
Poconchi  language,  197. 
Poduncks,  their  locality,  283. 
Porno  race,  436. 
Popolocas,  195. 
Population,  centre  of,  173. 
Porter,  Hist.  Discourse,  283. 
Potomac,   Spanish   standard   planted   on, 

343  ;  the  Espiritu  Santo.  386. 
Pottawatomies,  104,   106,  111,  113,    114, 

115,212,213,273. 
Poupa,  lake,  449. 
Powder  river,  battle  on,  262. 
Powow,  299. 

Powhatan  confederacy  Algonquins,  343. 
Powhattans,  their  locality,  212. 
Prairie  area,  165,  168,  169  ;  line,  167,  170, 

171  ;  nations,  migrations  of,  230,  231, 

232  ;  never  occupied  by  Indians,  169  : 

nurseries  of  the   antelope,  170;  soli 

tudes,  177. 

Praying  Indians,  456  ;  number  of,  408. 
Prehistoric  immigration,  223. 
Prescott's  Conquest  of  Mexico,  193. 


Pretty  Crow,  chief,  264,  265. 

Prophets,  Indian,  418. 

Protestants  prohibited  in  Canada,  107. 

Provision  of  Chippewas,  369,  371. 

Puants  (Winnebagoes),  221. 

Pueblo  idioms,  428  ;  Indians,  235. 

Puget   sound,  dialects,  425  ;   estimate   of 

Indian  population,  188  ;  region,  180. 
Punkas,  220. 
Pynchou,  John,  475. 

Quamash,  186. 

Quappas,  their  locality,  221,  224. 

Quarante  Sous,  chief,  270,  275,  276. 

Quebec,  105,  106  ;  famine  at,  106  ;  deputa- 
tion to,  111 ;  records,  117  ;  surrendered 
to  the  English,  107. 

Queen  Charlotte's  island,  182  ;  Indians  of, 
188. 

Quetzal  coatl,  11. 

Quiche  language,  197. 

Quichhuas,  422. 

Quinnipiacks,  their  location,  283. 

Quinte,  bay  of,  151. 

Rafinesque,  characteristics  of,  13,  87. 

Raguenaw,  father,  109. 

Rainy  lake,  220. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  333. 

Randolph,  Edward,  pursues  regicides,  471, 
477. 

Rappahannock,  Spanish  mission,  333. 

Rattlesnake  doctor,  459. 

Ray,  Luzerne,  280. 

Raymbault,  Charles,  104,  109. 

Red  Cloud,  265 ;  agency,  260,  261  ;  map 
of,  265. 

Red  Dog,  265. 

Red  Jacket,  153. 

Red  Knives,  234. 

Red  Leaf,  chief,  265. 

Redondo,  Christopher,  massacred,  342. 

Red  river,  dreaming  at,  375. 

Rees  Indians,  887. 

Religion  of  the  Indian,  296-99. 

Religion  the  motive  of  the  Jesuit  mission- 
aries, 103  ;  also  of  the  Pilgrims,  104. 

Religious  belief  of  Indians,  77,  78. 

Rice,  fort,  attacked,  60. 

Richardson's  boat  voyage,  172. 

Richelieu,  Cardinal,  106. 

Riggs,  Dakotan  lexicon,  219. 

Rio  Frio  Indians,  396. 

Rio  Grande.  166  ;  Indians,  189,  190. 

Rising  Head,  noted  war  chief,  82. 

River  Indians,  218,283. 

Roanoke  island,  333. 

Bobbins,  Chandler,  on  Hadley  attack, 
467. 

Robe  Noire,  riviere  du,  115. 

Roberts,  A.  C.,  396. 

Rocky  Bear,  chief,  265. 


488 


INDEX. 


Rocky  mountain,  bands,  234;  nations,  217; 

languages,  extinct,  253  ;  scenery,  81. 
Rocky  mountains,  barriers  to  emigration, 

173. 

Rogue  river  Indians,  441. 
Roman  Catholic  missionaries,  success  of, 

377. 

Roquemont,  M.  de,  106  ;  captured,  107. 
Roving  Indians,  189,  194;  stone,  age  of, 

163  ;  avoided  Ohio,  229. 
Roxboro,  duke  of,  149. 
Running  Antelope,  chief,  391. 
Rupert's  land,  voyage  through,  172. 
Russell,    Rev.    Mr.,     conceals    regicides, 

461-78. 
Russian  America,  cession  of,  255. 

Sabianisin,  10. 

Sacramento  valley  Indians,  304. 

Sacrificial  dance,  388,  390. 

Sacs,  273. 

Sngamon,  bay  of,  110. 

Sahaptin,  425  ;  stock,  443. 

Salmon,  fisheries,  181,  182  ;  habits,  183, 

184,  186. 
Salt  river,  335. 
Saltillo  blankets,  45. 
San  Carlos,  fort,  397. 
San  Joaquin,  319  ;  Indians,  304. 
San  Juan  del  Norte,  ascension  of,  397. 
Sans  arcs,  219,  261. 
Santa  Barbara  dialects,  426,  430. 
Sassacus,  Pequod  chief,   452  ;  massacred, 

454. 
Saskatchewan,   81,  220,  224;  a  route  of 

migration,  169,  173  ;  migration,  233  ; 

river,  75. 

Susquehannocks,  226  ;  extinct,  227. 
Saukies,  273. 
Sauks,  111,  113,213. 
Sault  St.  Marie,  104,  115  ;  mission  to,  103, 

111,112,113,  114. 
Sauteurs,  273. 
Sawks,  their  locality,  213. 
Schaghticooks,  how  composed,  455,  458  ; 

reservation, 459;  baptisms  among,460. 
Schoolcraft,  15,  18,  22  ;  Indians,  418. 
Scoffies,  their  locality,  211. 
Scott,  Walter,  on  attack  of  Hadley,  469. 
Sea  trout  taken  at  Labrador,  70. 
Segura,  John  Baptist,  massacred,  342. 
Selish  dialects,  422  ;  family,  444. 
Seminoles,   223;  in   Alabama,   120,   121; 

vocabulary,  120,  125. 
Semisopochnoi  island,  255. 
Lemitchi  island,  255. 
Seneca,  definition  of,  241. 
Seneca-Iroquois  system,  257  ;  resemblance 

to  Mongolian,  224. 
Senecas,  226,  227. 

Sequoyah,  alphabet  suggested,  420. 
Serpent,  a  symbol  of  evil,  20,  28. 


Seven  council  fires,  220. 
Sharon,  Moravian  missionary  station,  456. 
Shasta,  dialect,  438  ^language  at,  416. 
Shawnees,  216  ;  area,  221. 
Shauanos,  120. 

Shea,  John  Gilmary,  his  paper,  333  ;  Lin- 
guistics, 429. 

Shekomeko  monument,  456. 
Sheldon,  George,  his  paper,  461. 
Sherman,  John,  459. 
Sheshatapoosh  locality,  211. 
Shingask,  reward  for,  94. 
Shiyans,  198 ;  of  Algonkin   lineage,  225  ; 

their  locality,  216. 
Shoshonee  migrations,  231,  232,  233,  234, 

248  ;  dialects,  422,  426,  428. 
Shovels  of  the  Mexicans,  199. 
Shuinagin  island  mummies,  347. 
Siam,  missionary  to,  106. 
Sickness,  despondency  in,  376. 
Sierra  Madre,  46  ;  sheep  herds,  883. 
Sierra  Nevada,  120  ;  effect  upon  the  winds, 

168 ;  Indians,  304. 
Simcoe  lake,  226. 
Simon,  Louis  Hyacinth,  119. 
Simpson,  Sir  George,  estimate  of  Indian 

population,  179. 
Sinago,  Ottawa  chief,  273. 
Sinagoes,  270. 
Sioux,  league  with  Iroquois,  115;  mission 

among,   110;    origin   of  name,   228; 

roving,   387 ;   sacrificial  dance,   389 ; 

their  location,  178,  213  ;  treaty,  1868, 

260  ;  vision,  127. 
Sissetons,  219. 
Sitjar's  Dictionary,  430. 
Sitting  Bull,  261,  263,  265. 
Six  Nations  destroy  Hurons,  109  ;  in  treaty 

atPhila.,  91 ;  peace  with  French,  111. 
Slaughter,  Col.,  51. 
Slover,  captive,  57. 
Smith,  Buckingham,  120,  338 ;  Capt.  John, 

his  voyage  for  Cathay,  334. 
Snake  dialects,  427  ;  Indians,  231  ;  river 

salmon,  186. 
Snakes,  expelled,  27. 
Snow  medicine,  78. 
Songs  of  the  Indians,  16. 
Sonora,  irruptions  on,  353. 
Sonoma  mission,  432. 
Southern  dialects,  430. 
Spanish,  mission  colony  in  Virginia,  333  ; 

priests  in  California,  306,  313. 
Spider,  chief,  265,  267. 
Spinners,  Indian,  352. 
Spirituous  liquors,  373  ;  prohibited,  374. 
Square  island,  65. 
Squash,  Indian  plant,  198. 
Squaw  dance,  391. 
Squaw-man,  definition  of,  387. 
Squier,  E.  G. ,  his  paper  on  the  Walum- 

olum,  9. 


INDEX. 


489 


St.  Augustine,  founder  of,  343  ;  Yamasees 

flee  to,  449. 

St.  Francis  Xavier,  mission,  102. 
St.  Helena  sound,  336. 
St.  Ignace,  mission  at  Mackina,  102. 
St.  John's  cape,  333. 
St.  Joseph,  104,  105,  US.  114. 
St.  Louis,  mission  of,  105;  Peoria,  119. 
Bt.   Marie,  sault,  fishing  place,  213  ;  sault, 

white  fish,  183. 
St.  Martha,  bishop  of,  147. 
St.  Mary,  mission,  102. 
St.  Mary's  bay  mission.  333,  334. 
St.  Michael,  chapel  at,  111. 
Stabber,  chief,  205. 
Standing  Rock,  original  of,  388  ;  agency, 

388  ;  under  the  Catholic  church,  394. 
Stanley-Custer  expedition,  387. 
Stanton,  Col.,  2GO. 
Stiles,  Ezra,  on  Hadley  attack,  46P. 
Stockbridge  Indians,  455. 
Stoddard,  Solomon,  on  Philip's  war,  476. 
Stone  age,  253. 
Stone,  Win.  L.,  his  life  of  Brant,  145  ;  his 

paper,  379. 

Stuart  Granville,  427. 
Subsistence,  means  of,  173,  174,  175. 
Sugar  manufacture,  370. 
Sukley,  Dr.,  182. 

Sulley,  Gen.,  defeated  Two  Bears,  390. 
Sun,  the  symbol  of  the  good  spirit,  23. 
Superior,  mission  on,  105  ;  coasted  by  Al- 

louez,  111. 

Susquehanna  palisaded  towns,  340. 
Sutnux,  John,  458. 
Swain,  Capt.,  at  Hadley,  477. 
Swan.  Caleb,  120. 
Swearinger,  Col.,  62. 
Sword,  chief,  265,  267. 
Sylleri,  plains  of,  110. 

.facullies,  234. 

Talamatan,  not  Iroquois,  41. 

Talcott,  Major,  477. 

Tall  chief,  324. 

Tallegwi,  contest  with,  26,  38. 

Talocan  valley,  194. 

Talon,  intendant,  110. 

Taltecs,  of  Mexico,  191. 

Tamarois,  104, 105  ;  mission,  118, 119. 

Tamil  people,  257. 

Tampa,  120. 

Tampico,  natives  of,  194. 

Tanner  on  the  Indian  songs,  16  ;  narrative, 

378. 

Taos,  418. 

Tarasca  language,  194. 
Teakiki,  105. 

Tecumseh,  prediction  of,  85. 
Teedyuskung,  treaty  with,  89 ;  talk  with, 

95,  attacked  the  whites,  99. 
Teeton  dialect,  219,  220. 

33 


Tejon  agency,  expenses  of,  321 ;  reserva- 
tion, 307. 

Tekarihogea  of  the  Mohawks,  150. 
Ten  Mile  river,  455. 
Tenochtitlan,  Mexico,  203. 
Tepanecans,  192. 
Tepejacac  causeway,  203. 
Tetenchoua,  chief  of  Miamas,  111,  115. 
Texas,  forests  of,  166  ;  Indian    spinners, 

352. 

Tezcuco  lake,  its  elevation,  203,  204,  206. 
Tezcucans,  192. 

Thayendanegea  (Joseph  Brant),  145. 
Thick-headed-horse's  dream,  127. 
Three  Bears,  chief,  265. 
Tinne  Indians,  440. 
Tlacopans,  192  ;  causeway,  203. 
Tlahuicas,  195. 

Tlascalau,    confederacy,    192,   195 ;  agri- 
culturists, 164. 
Tobacco,  Indian  plant,  198,  202. 
Tolewa  language,  438. 
Toltecans,  41. 

Toltecs,  original  seat  of,  240,  247,  249. 
Tomochichi,  chief,  450. 
Tonnahowi,  chief,  450  ;  buried,  451. 
Tonti,  his  Relation,  115;  lieutenant  of  La 

Salle,  116. 

Torquemada,  estimate  of  Mexican  popu- 
lation, 193. 

Torn  Belly,  chief,  265. 
Totonacs,  195. 
Tototen,  tribe,  441. 

Towaches,  231. 

Tracey,  Marquis,  viceroy,  110. 

Traders,  villainy  of,  373. 

Trapper,  keen  scent  on  a  trail,  81. 

Treat,  Major,  march  of,  476. 

Treaty  at  Philadelphia,  1742,  90. 

Trout,  varieties,  183. 

Trumbull,  J.  Hammond,  412. 

Trumbull's  Hist.  Connecticut,  280. 

Tuckabatchee,  prediction  of,  85. 

Tunicas,  mission  to  the,  119. 

Turanian  system,  257. 

Turner,  W.  W.,  linguist,  234. 

Turner's  falls  fight,  477. 

Turtle,  mythology  of,  26. 

Tuscaroras,  226  ;  removal  of,  227. 

Two  Bears'  lodge,  388. 

Tymochtee  river,  55,  57. 

Uchees,  120,  230. 

Ul plus's  map,  333. 

Umkwas,  234. 

Umpquasof  Alsea,  agency,  441. 

Unalashka,  347. 

Uncas,282;  Pequod  rebel,  453  ;  last  of  the 

Mohegans,  454. 
Uncpapas,  219,  261,  390. 
Unga  caves,  mummies  of,  347,  350. 
United  States  Catholic  magazine,  361. 


490 


INDEX. 


Upper  Missouri  nations,  222. 
Utah  dialects,  427,  428. 

Vancouver  Indians,  188. 
Vaudreuil,  speech  to,  270,  277. 
Velasco,  Don  Luis  de,  334,  343. 
Vermont,  without  Indian  population,  285. 
Village   Indians,    161 ;  arts   among,    162, 

163;  migrations, '235,  236,  242,243; 

mound  builders,  176;  of  Mexico,  191, 

195,  207 ;   abuses  of,    197 ;    of   New 

Mexico,  189,  190  ;  their  power,  208  ; 

their  system,  210. 

Vincennes,  104,110  ;  Francois  Morgan,  110. 
Virginia,  first  European  settlement,  333  ; 

Spanish  standard  planted  in,  343. 
Visit  to  the  Standing  Rock  agency,  387. 
Visscher,  Matthew,  letter  to,  148. 
Vocabularies    collected    by    Smithsonian 

Inst.,  420. 

Voltaire  on  Indian  origin,  286. 
Voyages,  account  of  the  first,  197. 

Waban,  praying  Indian,  410. 

Wabash,  104,  105, 110. 

Walrus  exterminated  at  Labrador,  70. 

Walum-olum,  with  translation  of,  9, 14, 18. 

Wanawanda,  Sioux  chief,  128. 

War  between  France  and  England,  106. 

Warm  Springs,  418. 

Warner,  Benj.  F.,  324. 

War-trail,  how  detected,  81. 

Washington,  Mount,  flora,  70. 

Watson,  John,  narrative  of,  86. 

Weathersfield  Indians,  283. 

Weavers,  Indian,  352,  360. 

Weebetuck  river,  455,  456. 

Weeping  dances,  432. 

Weiser,  Conrad,  his  testimony  of  the  long 

walk,  96. 

Weits-pek  dialect,  138. 
Welsh  descent  of  the  Mandans,  85. 
Wequamps  fight,  474,  476. 
Western  Reserve  and  Ohio  Hist.  Society, 

270. 

Western  slope,  languages  of,  421. 
Whalley,  Edward,  regicide,  461. 
Wheat,  Indian,  199. 
Wheeling,  Va.,  attack  on,  59. 
Whirlwind's  village,  27. 
White  river,  263 ;  bonefield,  260. 


White  Tail,  chief,  262,  265. 

Whittlesey,  Col.  Charles,  his  paper,  270. 

Wild  Indians  of  California,  304. 

Williams,  Roger,  42. 

Wilson,  Daniel,  his  theory,  160. 

Winds,  effected  by  the  mountains,  168. 

Windsor  Indians,  283. 

Winnebagoes,   211;   their   locality,   213; 

their  location,  221. 
Winnipeg  lake,  220. 
Winslow's  Relation,  280. 
Wintoon  tribes,  434. 
Wisconsin,  its  discovery,  102  ;  purchase  of, 

361  ;  river,  104,  105. 
Wishkosk  dialects,  437. 
Witchitas,  231. 

Withlacooche,  signification  of,  125. 
Wolfs  Necklace,  chief,  391. 
Wolverine  found  at  Labrador,  70. 
Wongungs,  their,  locality,  283. 
Wyandots.  275  ;  ancient  Hurons,  226. 
Wyckoff,  Wm.  C,,258. 

Xalisco  villages  burned,  197. 
Xochimilco  lake,  dikes  of,  202,  203. 

Yakima  salmon  fisheries,  183. 
Yakon  tribe,  441. 
Yale  college,  fossils  at,  258. 
Yamacraw  chief,  Tomochichi,  450. 
Yanktons,  219. 
Yellowstone  expedition.  261. 
Yamasees,  chastisement  of,  448. 
Yanktonnais,  388,  390. 
Yendats,  true  name  of  the  Hurons,  107. 
Yocuts  of  California,  432,  433. 
Young  Man  Afraid  of  his  Horses,  chiet',265. 
Yucatan,  languages  of,  194,  197  ;  popula- 
tion of,  196. 
Yuka  language,  435. 
Yukon  Indians,  188  ;  valley  burials,  345. 
Yuma  dialects,  of  Colorado,  429. 

Zane,  Col.  Silas,  59  ;  Elizabeth,  60. 

Zapotecas,  195. 

Zeisberger's  Dictionary,  14. 

Zevallos,  Sancho,  massacred,  342. 

Zuazo,   estimate   of  Mexican   population, 

193. 
Zuui  Indians,  visits  to,  43  ;   Indian  houses, 

190  ;  language,  46. 


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